Bellflower

What a letdown. Maybe Evan Glodell should've had some outside input because what a mess of a movie. Completely unlikable characters meandering around seemingly meaningless lives combined with a badass car that gets about five minutes of screen time and doesn't get to do anything. And just when it seems the movie is going to go for broke and take it down a dark, dark road it pulls back, changes it mind and fucks off into the meaningless void it came from. What a waste.

This film has the minset of a thirteen year old boy in that it's filled with overwrought emotions, misplaced rage and absolutely no sense of direction. The cinematography does not so much compliment as mirror the incoherent, overblown theatrics on display. In many ways, it resembles a temper tantrum.

Not a bad start for director Evan Glodell. Bellflower is by no means great but has originality and is filmed with a unique vision. It can feel slow and nonsensical at times, but there are moments where you can tell he has a real eye for the craft. I am looking forward to more films by him.

A total apocalypse of the (hipster) heart.

Top badass moment? The car of course, even though you hardly get to see it; it's really just a red herring plot-wise. This film is a shambolic mess in so many ways. Yet despite that it works, as it somehow lifts itself into a slightly hallucinogenic world existing outside of the B-movie mainstream, helped by an effective soundtrack. Features a manboy bromace between two Mad Max obsessed guys and proves how fickle woman are in comparison, and a flamethrower. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.

The director is talented and it has pretty cool cinematography. Its creative and gives you something to think about. But the screen writing is sub-par and the acting is shaky. You have actors who are average most of the time but occasionally BELOW, delivering crappy lines and saying dude too much. So when the drama hits, it's like "meh" cuz it's so silly. Over the top to the point of stupid sometimes. With that said, it's still pretty entertaining, even if I think it doesn't all gel.

Not quite sure what to make of this. I didn't really buy the extreme turn that the film takes, the characters just don't have that much to be extreme about. Or is it some commentary about the attempting to fill the existential void, as imagined by a sixteen year old boy? Whatever, it looks like it was a lot of fun to make. Let's see what Glodell does next.

A talented mumblecore gang whose sole determination is to go ballistic, both visually and narratively. The car works (as a separate entity almost), but this has an ugly view of people without much social dimension and wallowing in their trailer trash antics gets old fast. The movie tries to say something about a retarded kind of male psyche but it's a misjudgment to seek the audience's empathy only through fatalistic contrasts of happy/insane.

Beautifully-shot, impressive first feature. Smacks of frustration and depression. One of the greatest character transformations I've seen.

Grimy, gross, could've been more like my kind of film, but that's what the Safdie bros are for. This is "one of those" films, but there 2 kinds; the Tommy Wiseau and the Jim Cummings, and this on the fine line, but it takes that fine line and uses it as a jumprope

Made me want to take my Mad Max car to a blossom covered lane, hit the local AARP-friendly diner for an 8 AM early bird special. Sneak in a promising library wine under my coat to pair with some day-old meatloaf. Strike up a convo with a retiree, eventually let it be known I've a homemade flamethrower out in my trunk. Interest expressed, a road trip's proposed. We roll around for the rest of the morning and talk about old times.

Yes, everyone else is right about why this movie is bad, but I'd also like to mention the terrible pacing in the editing: scenes and shots almost always drag on several beats longer than they feel they should, which contributes to why the whole thing feels so boring. There's never any tension, and it just never feels like anything interesting is happening or going to happen. Add to that the bad acting and dreary shot-composition and you've got yourself an ugly snoozefest.

This is genuinely remarkable, offering a healthy antidote to the fantasies of comic book films, and presenting the apocalypse as something that happens in our own back gardens. There is an ambiguity, however, about the ending(s) which perhaps doesn't work as well as its creators had hoped.

Filling the existantial void, in a cool way, nice depiction of Bromance!

Star Rating: ★★★1/2

So intense it makes me feel in love every time I watch it.

- 12/4/11

Cinematography was top notch but most of the rest was pretty lackluster. Awful acting but hey, flamethrowers.

What in the world are people thinking, giving this such good rankings. Awful. I couldn't get over the horrible camerawork or the performances, or how annoying the characters were.

By the late 20s crowd, for the late 20s crowd, and pretty original. Its romance is portrayed with such a great degree of honesty and minimalist touches that the nihilistic bombast of its ending cuts deep. Definitely worth a watch.

Bellflower attempts to tell a subjective story but has hardly any of the skill needed to pull it off, and it can't escape the trappings of its genre. It's gone overboard in trying to make us feel the main character's anguish. It's shot on a home-built camera that just makes everything look like it's in soft focus. It's a solipsistic, melodramatic mess of a movie that tries too hard. Enough films about manchildren already!

Great moments doesn't save the otherwise mediocre, badly edited Bellflower... half way through it seems like the director looses his grasp on the story. A story that could've been really great.

A story about friendship, love, hate and everything in between. Framed in such an (original) way that will have you enthralled throughout! From what is arguably quite a 'simple' story line, the writer/director/actor(!) has managed to make an incredibly captivating film. The scary part here being that it might be a bit to relateable to some. If you have any fondness for great cinematography and filmmaking at its finest, make sure you watch Bellfower. Buttcheeks will be clenched!

Phenomenal take on heartbreak, friendship, masculinity, and the insecurity underlying survivalist eschatology. Oh and it's really pretty too. Dude built his own camera. Dude shot the movie for $17,000. Dude's legit.

It's been over a year since I've seen this and I still just don't know what the fuck. Not an easy film on any level.

Aí sim, porra!

The film starts off feeling very fresh, like a new voice in cinema which has no respect for the rules. The actors do have some chemistry, and there seems to be a basis for a decent film. Past the halfway mark, though, it's clear the director has no clue where he is heading, and is just improvising a bunch of illogical and tenuously-linked scenes with underlying themes of violence, vengeance, sex and flamethrowers. It's a disappointing way to end what amounts to little more than a music video.

Goes a bit overboard.

Stylistically impressive with a great meaningful ending. But almost everything else tends to veer towards the extreme perhaps to hide its lack of substance. I get that the film attempts to portray heartbreak through the destructive tendencies of the macho state of mind. But that doesn't mean it has to be so needlessly incoherent and sometimes even tirelessly repetitive. Nevertheless, it's a unique, if not entirely pleasant, viewing experience.

The melodrama is laid on a little thick, but I can't help but love the apocalyptic DIY aesthetic of pretty much everything in the movie.

Is this an Urban Outfitters backed project? The acting is quite terrible. The soundtrack reminds me of the music they play at the various hipster parties I frequent. These guys are handsome, I wonder if they model for Urban Outfitters. I like the look of this film aesthetically speaking, I hope it picks up somehow...Something big is going to happen I just know it....It's one of the few cases in which I'd say decent filmmaking led to a somewhat mediocre film.

Disappointing after all the hype. And the visuals weren't really near as good as some say. But it had some energy and flair and a dude that looks a lot like Will Forte.

This film tells a very realistic love story, that really shows what it is like to be in a relationship today, and leaves out all of the typical "Hollywood" romance. It shows all the negativity that happens when someone gets in a relationship, losing friends, the jealousy, the clingyness etc. This movie has great film work, perfect story telling, a cast with strong chemistry, and a neat little twist with a beautiful ending. Bellflower is a must see.

first ever anarchial existentialist fantasy?

A nightmarish rural-industrial riff on Tarantino's "True Romance." The kind of movie you wish all the Tarantino acolytes had made in the 90's--inspired but wholly original, visceral and visually striking, intense, assured and utterly gripping. One of the most potent--and certainly among the most disturbing--filmgoing experiences of the year. More, please, Glodell.

"Heartache is the gasoline and betrayal is the spark that ignites it in Bellflower, an apocalyptic powder-keg tale of love, treachery, and flamethrowers." - Nick Schager