I don't want to trash this film, because there's a sincerity to it. That said, I imagine the casting notice included, "must be willing to masturbate on film".
The film is a series of four short, downbeat films with various shots of apples in between them. Mills appears to love David Lynch's Rabbits series since the style of all four mirrors it - mostly static shots, minimal or no sound with canned audience response with some fairly effective, almost imperceptible sound effects occasionally thrown in.
The theme of each of the films is squalor and death. I'm tempted so say Mills was just looking for shock value but I feel he was shooting slightly above that. Still, in The Sleepover, Dad masturbates while watch his daughter and her friend engage in lesbian sex. Mom sees this and kills everyone. In Caretaker, we see elder abuse including urinating in the old man's oatmeal, more masturbation, sex and then death. In Dad, the rebellious daughter of a hypocritical Christian masturbates, get pregnant by her boyfriend (who the Dad then kills) and then she dies giving herself and abortion. In the final film, a working class guy gets rejected by a female co- worker. The guy's friend (being a pal) abducts her and gets killed by his friend for his pains. Then the guy masturbates while she's chained up and, after she's released...she kills him.
The actors in all of the stories wear masks. I know this is supposed to be a statement (the tag line is "Everyone wears masks") but there's not enough meat on (no pun intended) or variation in the stories for this pretension to work. That's not to say it's not effective. Except for the final story which suffers from the lack of dialog, the actors do a good job. I've done mask work and it's not easy get your point across without using you face.
It also speaks to the competence of the script that Mills pulled off the complete lack of dialog.
The black and white photography is lovely and works well. The film looks very nice. Even though the apple motif isn't developed (that I could see on one viewing) they're a nice linking device and, again, look lovely.
If you want something odd and have a penchant for joyless masturbation, this is your movie. I'm sure Mills has some better movies in him and I'd love to see him as he matures.
The film is a series of four short, downbeat films with various shots of apples in between them. Mills appears to love David Lynch's Rabbits series since the style of all four mirrors it - mostly static shots, minimal or no sound with canned audience response with some fairly effective, almost imperceptible sound effects occasionally thrown in.
The theme of each of the films is squalor and death. I'm tempted so say Mills was just looking for shock value but I feel he was shooting slightly above that. Still, in The Sleepover, Dad masturbates while watch his daughter and her friend engage in lesbian sex. Mom sees this and kills everyone. In Caretaker, we see elder abuse including urinating in the old man's oatmeal, more masturbation, sex and then death. In Dad, the rebellious daughter of a hypocritical Christian masturbates, get pregnant by her boyfriend (who the Dad then kills) and then she dies giving herself and abortion. In the final film, a working class guy gets rejected by a female co- worker. The guy's friend (being a pal) abducts her and gets killed by his friend for his pains. Then the guy masturbates while she's chained up and, after she's released...she kills him.
The actors in all of the stories wear masks. I know this is supposed to be a statement (the tag line is "Everyone wears masks") but there's not enough meat on (no pun intended) or variation in the stories for this pretension to work. That's not to say it's not effective. Except for the final story which suffers from the lack of dialog, the actors do a good job. I've done mask work and it's not easy get your point across without using you face.
It also speaks to the competence of the script that Mills pulled off the complete lack of dialog.
The black and white photography is lovely and works well. The film looks very nice. Even though the apple motif isn't developed (that I could see on one viewing) they're a nice linking device and, again, look lovely.
If you want something odd and have a penchant for joyless masturbation, this is your movie. I'm sure Mills has some better movies in him and I'd love to see him as he matures.