EyeAskance

The brief chronology of a young bohemian folk singer during the nascent phase of his career is more-less a skeletal narrative provided to interweave a succession of musical performances and epigrammatic vignettes centered around the colorful staff and patrons of a Left Bank style coffeehouse, frequented by beatniks, surf-rats, and other young nonconformists of the time.

DIRTY FEET, a very independent little film produced on breadcrumb rations, was in urgent jeopardy of becoming lost to the Lethe of cinema oblivion until somewhat recently, when a limited home viewing sufficiency was made available. It's an interesting curio, eagerly effectuated by an amateur personnel at every juncture of production, and spotlighting some wonderful music talent from the beat/folk undertow. All this lively hurly-burly takes place at a long defunct California establishment called, in true beat fashion, THE PRISON OF SOCRATES...a eclectic venue of considerable lore which is now remembered with rhapsodic wistfulness by its living clientele.

I can't imagine this film being well received by mainstreamers, but it's unlikely that they'd ever merge with it in the first place. Conversely, those of us who appreciate the creative brio and enthusiasm which fuel grassroots cinema should find it well enjoyable. It captures a zeitgeist of its time in a firsthand and very naturalistic way...rather surprising, as this particular subculture has been habitually misrepresented in media depictions to a nigh Vaudevillian extreme, and is now somewhat misunderstood as a consequence.

6/10.

A fairly uncommon soundtrack LP exists.

Carla, a young clairvoyant, sees visions of a serial strangler at large in her city. She tells this to the police investigator who's engaged to her cousin Joan, but he's a skeptic. This angers Joan, and she soon takes up with a suave doctor who's been treating her terminally ill uncle. When Carla sees the doctor, she cautions Joan that he's the strangler from her visions, but Joan shrugs off her warning.

This virtually uncharted little South African precursor to the similar(but far better) thriller THE EYES OF LAURA MARS is relatively well made on a low budget, and perfomances from the cast are roundly acceptable. Sadly, it's a piddling little whiffle of a movie with far too much expository backchat, and not enough action to keep it lively. The oblique "surprise" ending is pretty weak, as well, leaving many key matters unresolved.

BAIT may be of minor interest to a few dauntless "proto-slasher" cinema completists, but it's a laggard 80 minutes which could be far better spent.

4/10.

Worm is a ne'er do well petty criminal who finds himself in quite a pickle as the unwitting scapegoat in a grisly double homicide. He gradually comes to realize that nobody close to him can be trusted, and that the life of his young daughter may be in urgent jeopardy.

Audaciously avant-garde low budget neo-noir filmed in two long takes, with the camera focused squarely on the face of the central character. It's a bold stylistic push, but the proceedings are so well supervised that it never feels like a contrived gimmick. The story, which plays out in real-time, is tense and engaging, and the characters, despite being largely unseen, are developed and well dramatized. Andrew Bowser is award worthy in a highly complex and demanding protagonist role, spinning his initially somewhat unappealing loser character into a relatable and valiant hero with a pitiable history.

WORM is far and away one of the gutsiest film experiments to come along in quite a while. Sure, it's flawed. Big deal...the Venus De Milo ain't got no arms. It might not appeal strongly to mainstreamers, but if your tastes run per-contra the dull polish of Hollywood, you won't want to miss it.

7/10.