Gentlemen Broncos 2009
Directed by Jared Hess Cinematography by ? Powell
Starring: Michael Angarano, Jermaine Clement, Mike White, Jennifer Coolidge, Sam Rockwell
I love bizarre movies. I love movies that genuinely challenge you. Not the modern ‘challenging’ horror schlock but movies with content so unusual it could be unique or, if I dare say it, new.
Broncos is a tale of a kid I can identify with writing old fashioned fifties Scifi. We get to see it as a film. An elder author swipes the story, puts his spin on it, and the story we are watching changes accordingly. We get bounced between the two versions of this Scifi novel. The. There are the kids making a-level films. The whole world is quirky and demented. The sci-fi world is even crazier just to differentiate itself.
This film is unique enough to make audiences flee. A tremendous badge of winning. It takes a certain skill set and practical knowledge of the obscurity this rests on that I find very rewarding.
The acting is outstanding, making every frame believable and nuanced. Not what one would expect. There is genuine emotion coming from real people. Fear, anger, embarrassment. The real people feel like real people doing strange things.
The sci-fi people feel authentic to the characters in books from that era. The girlfriend is particularly interesting because you never know where you stand with her. Neither does the main character until deep into the film. She is enigmatic in a way that brings you in knowing she will betray you. Her friend is so off the wall that it gives credence to her when she is sincere.
Having been to so many sci-fi conventions, it is easy to see these people as real. I think that’s where mundane audiences would get lost. There are no stereotypes for them. Hess made this move for a very narrow demographic.
The outright absurdity of some sequences makes my heart cheer for joy. It is imagination put to paper made into a movie. Nothing makes sense. Nothing is real. At least, not in our world. In the world of the protagonist’s head, this is his created reality. I hope you give it a chance. It is not for everyone.
Let me know your opinion of the film. I would love to discuss it with you
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