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Trent Harris
Utah-based, eccentric and fun film-maker, as well documentary-maker, sometimes merging the two genres. His narrative films tend to be entertaining, sometimes hilarious comedies with highly eccentric (insane) characters that often entertain numerous crackpot theories and ideas. Aliens make surprise visits in his films often, and somehow, he manages to squeeze in some social commentary under all of the silliness. The constantly surprising dialogue and behavior, random sci-fi, as well as the desert locations, overcome the low budget. Wit underlies the constant silliness. A fun film-maker that deserves a bigger cult following. Delightfully funny, and silly in a fun way, this is another quirky movie by Trent Harris with an unreliable conspiracy crackpot as the narrator... so anything goes. It's about a (supposedly) dystopian world with idiots and big businesses in charge, and a reporter whose success in life is running out. He comes across a wacky story involving eco-terrorists guided by none other than Bigfoot with the help of some windshield-wiper-helmet devices, and a stwange mystewy woman Lisa who tries to convince him to join her cause. Of course, the hero has his way with every waitress, given the narrator, because, you know, waitresses have feelings too, leading to a 'sex scene' interpreted via dance. There is also some Delightful liquid that helps stop people from thinking. Another amusing one-of-a-kind film from Harris. Very off-the-wall comedy about Mormonism and an alien invasion that is somewhat endearing in its low-budget earnest silliness, like Utah's version of Liquid Sky. It's Trent Harris's interpretation of Mormon's most obscure and bizarre beliefs. One never knows what is about to happen next with this quirky film: A sexually repressed young woman uncovers secrets about a hidden book written by her neighbour's great grandfather about the link between Mormons and an alien plot. Mormon founder Brigham Young's 28th wife seems to have been a feminist alien from a planet Colob (you know, the planet where God lives), and the plot also includes bees, some Masonic hand signals, and a plaque. Trouble is, she keeps getting distracted by her neighbour who dances in his shorts, and her brother is getting alien signals after being locked up and treated with electricity for panty-sniffing and pedophiliac urges. There are many satirical Mormon references, Karen Black has a musical number as a singing alien, there's a Rocky Horror type dance in a costume club, erotic dreams about angels on flying motorcycles, and more. Rubin (Crispin Glover) is a strange recluse that wears 60s clothes and huge platform shoes which he uses as a weapon, plays with a squeaky mouse while listening to Mahler, drinks water from disgusting sources, and keeps his dead cat in the freezer until he can find a scenic burial place. Ed is a loser who is trying to get back with his ex-wife who dumped him, and to make money off a bogus, get-rich-quick business scheme complete with cheesy motivational speeches. When the two meet, sparks fly, then they get lost in the desert while on their way to a seminar. More weird than funny (featuring dialogue like "my cat can eat a whole watermelon"), but oddly entertaining. Harris's penchant for wacky characters really lends itself well to this theme: It's about artists, or people that think they are artists, with all the pretentious nonsense, attempts at sounding deep and inventive, and every drug-addled whim being passed as art, their discussions consisting of the most hilariously silly ideas, non-sequiturs and colorful language they can muster. The artists in question are members of a Rubber Room bar/hangout that is in financial trouble. On top of this, the planet is being taken over by clothy aliens thanks to some Republicans that sold them the planet. But a self-pitying artist makes a deal with them that involves turning the bar into something more useful. This results in some art competitions, art-smashing, crab people, and a film-art project that revolves around a deeply symbolic volcano. Another Trent Harris laugh-out-loud silly & bizarre fun-fest. Harris takes his weird sense of humor one step too far. This film resembles his more recent travelogues in terms of location and structure (of which there is none). It has two strange and insane people wander the desert and some other quirky locations, talking about completely random things and endlessly silly crackpot theories in ADD style. There seems to be no reason for them hang out together other than they are both experiencing very odd events such as monster green arms in bathrooms, and anti-Andy Warhol graffiti. Add to this some random teleportation, and monster frogs. The majority of the film has them talking about completely random subjects including an 'Allosaurus' tailbone, rubber ants, Abraham Lincoln, cremated frogs, improvised hubcap hats and shoes, slippery pigs, eye-specks that look like flying saucers, and whatnot. The problem is that it's trying too hard to be weird in random ways without anything real serving as an anchor to make it funny and relatable. Everyone knows that you need a straight man to make the crazy people funny, and this movie lacks one. |
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