Роман (2006) Online

This is a tiresome and aggravating movie. It takes the idea for a decent 25 minute film festival entry and stretches it out for almost another 70 minutes until you feel like hitting yourself in the head with a blunt object because it just…won't…end.

Roman (Lucky McKee) is a socially retarded misfit who, went he isn't at work welding or getting razzed by the other workers in the break room, sits in his crappy apartment staring out his front window and waiting for the pretty girl who lives across the way to walk by. One day the girl (Kristen Bell) sees Roman drinking beer on the roof of their apartment complex. She strikes up a conversation with him, probably because she just wants some of his beer, and she mistakes his stunted emotional state for simple shyness. Attracted to his weakness, the girl even ends up kissing Roman. And then he inadvertently smothers her to death on the floor of his crappy apartment. Well, I think Roman is supposed to have smothered her. The truth is he just sort of lies on top of her with his hand over her mouth for about 30 seconds, so the only way she could have actually died is by having a heart attack or a brain aneurysm. Her dying, however, doesn't put an end to Roman's pathetic affection for the girl.

Then, because the story has to keep trudging on like the Bataan Death March, Roman encounters a crazy, death-obsessed girl whose preferred style of dress is a combination toga/salad bar. Eva (Nectar Rose) throws herself at the non-responsive Roman like a nymphomaniac who just got back from 10 years alone on a desert island. The story then, with stultifying slowness, asks us to care if Roman can end his "relationship" with the dead girl in order to fully embrace Eva, or if Eva is offering him an even more twisted affair.

Let me start with the short list of good things about this film. The Kristen Bell in it is the Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars and Heroes and she's the best thing in Roman. She doesn't have much to do, but she's completely natural and convincing when she does it. Nectar Rose is pretty and charming but she clearly doesn't have the acting chops of Bell. Whereas Bell's nameless girl always seems like a real person on the screen, Rose's Eva is always and obviously a performance. It's not an awful performance, but it's consistently contrived. Angela Bettis also does a fair to middling job directing a movie that appears to have had a budget roughly the equivalent of three Happy Meals from McDonalds. Bettis and cinematographer Kevin Ford demonstrate a nice eye for an image that can fill up the screen and put together a couple of interesting dream sequences.

Now for the bad. Lucky McKee is excruciatingly bad as an actor. Though this script requires the character of Roman to say relatively little and blankly stare a whole lot, McKee can't even do that well. If you didn't know that McKee wrote this script, you'd swear he was just some guy grabbed off the street and given the role of Roman after the real actor went on a drug binge and didn't show up on set.

As for the writing, if you took everything in this movie and scrunched it down into a 25 minute film festival short, the audience might have seen it and thought "Well, that was sort of interesting". As a 90 minute film it becomes an uncomfortable slog where any reasonable person would just give up before the halfway point. McKee tries to cover up for the thinness of his plot by throwing some "funny" characters and weird stuff into the story. It doesn't help.

Roman also demonstrates that no matter how awful a scene may be, if there's a lame folk-rock song playing on the soundtrack it becomes exponentially worse. Seriously, if a filmmaker can't afford to have decent songs in a movie they shouldn't just slap in some tunes that were recorded in a friend's basement and sound like they were written and performed by Phoebe from Friends. The music in this movie is so bad it becomes its own irritating character where you sit and dread the moment it shows up again in the story.

Let's be honest. The only reason this vexing piece of cinema got a DVD release is because Kristin Bell is in it. Unlike many famous actors in their early work, Bell doesn't embarrass herself in Roman. But her presence in it has inflicted this elongated rumination of pretension on the DVD-renting public. Unless you're stalking Kristen Bell and need everything she's ever done for the little shrine you're building to her in your medicine cabinet, don't bother with Roman.

A few years ago,I saw a real masterpiece called May.In 2002,that movie showed director Lucky McKee as one of the most original and fresh new voices of contemporary horror.But,his following works were not what the people expected from him with May.The Woods was not a bad film but it was miles away from May and his episode in Masters of Horror was very mediocre.Now comes Roman,written and starred by McKee and directed by Angela Bettis,the main actress from May.The result is not as good as May,but the film is a pretty interesting experiment.The story of Roman is a little similar to May but there's a difference;in May,the main character stays away from people,looking for refuge on her sick mind;in Roman,the main character tries to stop being shy.The film gets a disturbing tone on some simple scenes.Also,the movie has a good level of surrealism(like the scene Roman goes picnic).McKee's screenplay and Bettis' direction show some typical things from cinema students like excessive pretension and artistic ambition.The performances are really good.McKee shows potential as an actor because his work is quite solid.Kristen Bell and Nectar Rose bring competent works.In spite of being pretentious,a little predictable and not too original,Roman is an interesting experiment.

"May" surely was one of the most impressive & remarkable debuts in the horror genre ever, the short but masterful Masters of Horror episode "Sick Girl" definitely proved that they weren't just a one-hit-wonder and now, with "Roman", Angela Bettis and Lucky McKee make it clear that they're here to stay! Even though not on par with the two aforementioned titles, "Roman" is one of the most enchanting and artistically creative stories of the last few years and it's guaranteed to have at least some kind of emotional impact on you. Even though the characters drawings and atmosphere building is somewhat similar to "May", this is not a real horror film. "Roman" actually can't be categorized in just one genre, as McKee and Bettis professionally blend together sinister horror, pitch-black comedy, melodrama and psychological thriller aspects. It's a tragic & hugely ironic tale of love vs. loneliness and how they can both turn out disastrously. Lucky McKee – pretty damn good in his first real lead performance – is Roman, an unhealthy introvert metal worker with an extremely depressing life-style. He doesn't talk to any of his colleagues, always eats the same pork & beans dinner and drinks the same type of beer and dreadfully fears simple things like TV. The highlight of each day is for him to sit in front of his apartment window at 5.30pm and observe his ravishing neighbor as she goes to collect the letters in her mailbox. When he finally meets her in person (following her OWN initiative), Roman loses his mind and kills her in brief a moment of rage and despair. Realizing the crime he committed, he punishes himself by staying indoors even more and ritually disposes of the girl's body parts every Sunday. The attractive new neighbor then develops a romantic interest in him, but she has issues and obsessions that even surpass those of Roman. Quite a few people blame "Roman" for its predictable ending but, even though I agree it's unsurprising, I didn't think it affected the film in a negative way. This film almost introduces a new type of predictability! Although you know what's coming, you still somewhat hope that things will work out positively for Roman because, despite of what he did, he's a truly likable and pitiable character. Angela Bettis constantly maintains an extremely moody and harrowing atmosphere, and the film is literally stuffed with unconventional jokes and wickedly comical situations. The wholesome actually becomes a bit disturbing, because you just know people like Roman really exist! Moreover, we all know someone in our own surrounding who rarely ever talks and always keeps a distance from the rest of the group. Makes you think what he/she does when nobody's watching, doesn't it? The camera-work as well as the editing often looks ugly and amateurish, but personally I thought even this suited the tone of the film. The soundtrack is downright sublime and McKee receives great feedback from his two bewitching female co-stars Nectar Rose and Kristen Bell. Not for everyone, but highly recommended in case you have a weakness for atmosphere-driven and genuinely moving dramas.

I watched and watched and kept thinking 'i'll give it ten more minutes'. The film is obviously low budget, (maybe more financial interest may have hurried it along a bit). The lead actor is great, he plays the role great, definitely the type of guy you'd avoid. However,he sits in his apartment, and he sits, and he sits, and he sits, and he goes to work, and then home, and then work and then home....get the point.

There are people out there like that, and the story line is menacing, but for heavens sake... hurry it along a bit. Surely in the pre-release stage, someone must have started fidgeting in the first ten minutes and said to the producer, 'shall we go back and tweak it to make it more interesting?' I can only assume that the response was...'too late the money's ran out' Enough said, go shopping instead!

I didn't really know what to expect when I started watching this. Maybe a bit of horror based on the cover and back cover description. It turns out it's some kind of intimate drama with very little horror or gore. Yes, there is death but you won't necessarily realize it's the case right away. A lonely, very tall, socially inept metal welder spends most of its free time drinking beer and smoking in his small, motel-like apartment sitting on his comfy chair looking out the window. At one point, he starts being obsessed with a pretty blonde woman going to get her mail at the same time each day, but doesn't dare contact her. Unlikely as it seems, she makes first contact and they start becoming friends. A while later, at his apartment, a tragic accident occurs.

Despite getting main credit, Kirsten Bell, the blonde woman, is not much in the film and is by far the best, most natural actor of the bunch. The "star" is the actor-director Lucky Mckee who acts expressionless most of the time. Appropriate for the character, but easy to act. The other main actress, Nectar Rose, was definitely bad, fake and overacting despite playing an eccentric character. Her arrival provided an interesting twist, but also took me out of the story as she was not believable. The other worse actor was the fat building manager who, I guess, was supposed to be comic relief but just ended up making things even more caricatural. The main character was creepy, disturbing and a bit sad, but more in his passivity and lack of expression. A better actor, especially with his eyes, would have helped. The story had a fairly interesting concept, but it didn't feel as well developed and captivating as it could have been. The pace was slow and contemplative with a little creativity shown in the daydreams. I find the whole movie was brought down by the poor acting and by being tedious. However, it was slightly saved by the somewhat poetic justice of the ending.

Rating: 3 out of 10 (poor)

First off I want to say I can't believe all the people criticizing this movie for the bad picture quality and type of camera used.I think it helped to give it more realism and it may have been done for a reason.Or it could be because it's a low budget film and they had no choice.It kind of came off as an experimental or student film.The only thing I didn't like was an annoying noise during the the live sound not being edited out. The noise in the background sounded like a cat meowing throughout a lot of the movie.It was distracting and even one of my cats got up and kept looking around the room. Lucky McKee who wrote and starred in this film did a nice convincing performance of a lonely, isolated and disturbed man.There was a scene while he was being ridiculed at work and the topic of masturbation came up and I burst out in laughter.I found the scenes with Roman and his co-workers on their lunch break extremely comical and well portrayed,I mean that kind of sh*t happens! Roman has his dull daily routine and seems to lead a meaningless life.He eats nothing but pork and beans and sits by his window looking out it drinking beer. It would have been nice to understand how he loses his grip of reality.It would be nice to see the events that led up to it, but everyone involved in this project was having too much fun making it and not caring what direction it took.I like these kinds of weird,twisted films now and then.I liked Isis(the girl) played by Kristen Bell.She was so friendly, naive and sweet but Unfortunately her encounter with Roman ended tragically. And then there is Eva(played by Nectar Rose).At first I thought Eva was the sister of Isis out to avenge her sister's death because the cop that visited the building mentioned the missing girl's sister was looking for her.And also she was also trying to get inside an apartment by involving Roman going to the landlord.But then by the end of the movie I wasn't sure if she even existed at all and thought she was Roman's imaginary girlfriend.I didn't understand the ending and found parts of the movie confusing.Roman became a bigger nut case and found Eva's death amusing. I can see how some people may find this movie confusing, dull,morbid, or boring and strange.You have to like black comedies,off-beat thriller's,or appreciate different type of films.I liked some of the deleted scenes especially the alternative Roman dream sequence and think it should have been in the film.It was a very entertaining sequence and i'm not sure why it wasn't used.Whether or not the people involved with making this movie took it seriously or not,I still enjoyed it.It started off slow but kept my interest.

Roman would have made an excellent short film, if it was made outside of Hollywood, by people who knew nothing about film. Oh, wait, did I say film? I meant video. Strangely there is no attempt to escape the camcorder look and scratchy open mic sound. The compression on the incidental sound effects (cars passing, doors closing, etc.) has such an irritating level of attack... I mean... yuck. The lack of attention to technical details is just atrocious. The lighting is two-dimensional, the blocking is repetitive and is all angled either too low or too high.

In the sense of story, there is potential. You don't, unfortunately, get the sense that Roman is time bomb where 'the girl' is concerned, which is unfortunate. His big mistake with the girl really has no rhyme or reason. I mean this was shot on video folks, what was stopping you from getting enough takes to reach an appropriate level of intensity. Even Kristin Bell was operating well below her A-Game in this pivotal scene.

Jeez...apparently, Lucky McKee can do no wrong. Like an album by an indie artist buried under a pile of Top 40 junk, it is often hard to remember that the horror genre DOES have an existence outside of Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and the "Saw" franchise. But is "Roman" really a horror film? McKee himself has found the tag questionable, as his films are more about relationships than anything else. "Roman," directed by actress Angela Bettis, is a gender reversal on McKee's breakout debut, "May" (in which Bettis starred), but blossoms into yet another singularly unique entity. Roman (McKee, who also scripted) is a remote, shy welder who leads a lonely existence; his daily excitement comes from sitting in front of his apartment window as an anonymous, beautiful girl (Kristen Bell) walks by; when the duo finally hook up, it meets an unexpected end. While McKee's hangdog expression can be overdone at times, he nails the nuances of a tormented, lovelorn guy, which becomes even more complex when Eva (the beautiful Nectar Rose), a foliage-wearing artist, enters his life. The beauty of watching "Roman" unravel is this awareness of relationship mechanics--seldom does character motivation feel contrived, nor does it come off with a sanitized "Hollywood" feel (the use of DV further helps this). As with "May," McKee finds ways to make potential shock-value scenes play with a tenderness (or humor) that is even more effective. And maybe as a titular nod to Polanski, the film bears a similarity to that director's tales of paranoid and/or sexually confused apartment-dwellers trying to sustain a day-to-day existence without (literally) killing someone. "Roman" is a wonderful film, sure to be on my "Best of 2007" list (even though it came out last year).

Wow, I have been thinking about this movie for months...I am not a TV or movie watcher at all and I just happened upon this movie while insomniated one AM. Now I have to say that I believe the way the movie was filmed to be deliberate. THe crackling sounds in the recording and the less than perfect film quality, as others call it, elude to gritty realism. It was a bit slow, but i believe that to be purposeful as well, I don't believe we were to accept the plot as delivered by the writer. I came away from the movie feeling as if the intentions conveyed by Eve were a delusion and he was actually stalking this woman..He called the first woman Isis, and the seconds' name was Eve? We are talking "first women" in mythology...Irony? I also noted in the last seen when he goes to "Eves" apartment there are perhaps signs of the struggle in the entryway. the carpet is dark with an unknown substance. it is a quick take, and i had to rewind it a few times to see it. It is consistent with the fact that there is no blood on eve in her final "display." and he says i killed her, i killed her. Were his delusions and psychotic episodes so pervasive that perhaps he didn't know what he had done? This movie is really a thinker. If you like mindless junk, this is NOT for you. Probably one of the most memorable movies i have ever seen. See it for the gritty realistic art it is and be afraid of your neighbor.....

I say it is a good compliment to Lucky Mckee's first story "May" but not even close to the quality of it. It's a decent film if your a fan of Lucky's. It seemed as if Roman was filmed before "May" and released after it. The pace is slow, but i believe this is deliberate. This story does not waste time, in a good way, with fluff. You can very quickly feel what Roman is about. If I did not already know about this story beforehand I would believe it was real. I like stories that can toe the line of real but still keep me interested which is the makings of a good movie. Now that being said, I expected better from the team of Bettis and McKee, even without an extreme budget this was a story that could have been more. I blame the editor. Movie are destroyed or saved by editing. I expected better story development. The idea was great but the translation was muffled

Anything having to do with dead bodies, whether it's zombies, necrophilia, cannibalism, or autopsies, etcetera, you can usually count me out. I really don't much care how well the film is made.

Now I did say usually, because "Roman" kept my interest. I thought Lucky McKee did an excellent job portraying a socially inept factory worker who is unable to control his fantasies, obsessions, and emotions. The viewer might be turned off by McKee's wooden and two-dimensional portrayal of Roman, but I believe this was intentional. If you don't believe there are really people out there like this, I'll introduce you to my sister-in-law's brother! Kirsten Bell and Nectar Rose were extremely sexy, Rose especially.

The film, obviously made on a low budget, didn't give anything away until the end, and was rather suspenseful. I can't say as I recommend "Roman", but I don't say avoid it at all costs either. It's not for everyone, and I'll leave it at that.

If you were one of those looking forward Roman as the weird kinda male version sequel of May you'll probably will get disappointed. But even so I recommend you to see it (you maybe like it, its up to your taste). First of all was very disappointing to see the visual quality... Video... it might be done in HD or MiniDV (I bet for the second one, also it might be the reason it went straight to DVD), in May you could see a good technical development specially in Art and Photography, here you cant see the same thing, the Photography is awful, and everything looks plain (In lots of time sub exposed) didn't saw any rhythm in the edition, there was raccord jumps in the lighting...The sound seems captured with the Mic of the camera, so you cant hear well the duologue's... in the tech view you feel like the movie is maded in a rush by some rookie.

The script isn't strong as May... The character development is dull, also tries to accomplish the same Black Humor that May had but fails on it, The character isn't deep, and doesn't have a justification to be as he is... (Sorry if a compare it with May a lot), you feel like the acting overacted... Its is really sad to see how this movie turned out... I really didn't like it at all... And i think seeing it one time its enough for me (I have see May six times and I still loving it)

The only thing that I liked was the soundtrack, it was so good that in a point of a movie I asked myself "How comes there's such good soundtrack in such crappy image?" its an awful contrast...

In conclusion...Roman its just disappointing, I dunno how after the great work on May, this movie ended like this, as I said before: if you're expecting something like May, you'll get disappointed, the movie its just plain bad, and I don't say this cuz was looking forward for a copy of May only male version (Maybe more like a JTHM :P), I say that its bad, cuz as a movie is bad overall... if someone likes it I'll respect their opinion, and Im looking forward to discuss about it...

-D!

PS: Excuse my crappy English

Roman(Lucky McKee)is a welder who lives a pretty monotonous existence while he obsesses after work over a young, beautiful woman(Kristen Bell, her name is never mentioned, but Roman calls her Isis)who walks nearby his apartment everyday. He fantasizes about her and can not stop thinking about this woman. A chance meeting between the two has possibilities of romance. She is quite a charmer, with this radiant glow and unflappability which works awkwardly opposite the aloof, slumbering quiet of Roman. What comes out is mostly compliments because he can not help staring endlessly into her face, waxing poetic in his heart for her. She stops by his apartment at his request and Roman handles her leaving badly because the idea of exiting from his sight at this point in time seems too much a burden to bear. But, in wrestling "Isis" to the ground, he accidentally strangles her. With options limited, Roman places her body on ice in his bathroom. Then, the film at times almost forgets about her. A new woman enters the picture, Eva(the truly wonderful Nectar Rose, who is a revelation in this part)..a sexual dynamo obsessed with death and conversations about it. Death is the topic that plays the heavy part over the story. It's everywhere and Roman can not seem to escape it. Roman, every Sunday, extracts a major body part(arm one Sunday, leg the next week)of the girl and spends a day with it at a lake off the beaten path in a secluded spot where the possibilities of being caught is almost nil. He spends his time with each part as if it was Isis right there with him slurping a beer like the first time they ever met on the apartment rooftop. Isis is his girl on this day, while Eva slowly becomes the other vital part of his life during the rest of the time. She's unusual, a little weird, but has an air of spontaneity..this encapsulating aura that pulls you in her orbit. Through her spirit, we see bits of humanity slowly emerge. The woebegone nature we were seeing at the opening is changing as he awakens from his emotional purgatory. But, Eva's strong feelings about death, talking about and discussing it, analyzing why people are sore afraid of it makes him very uncomfortable. Obviously, the topic of death is something Roman would truly care about avoiding, but Eva is persistent that he get with the program and not turn away from it. Being close-minded is something she can not tolerate.

The keys to this film I believe are the main emotional punches to the gut of the title character, Roman. Two women impact his life..and their lives end in tragedy. One didn't wish to die and another embraced it without backing away. The film comes to a head when Eva completes her artistic project allowing Roman to feast his eyes on the results. They impact him in ways he would never imagine.

First off this film isn't just a male focused version of May. SPOILER WARNING- One big difference is Roman never purposely hurt anyone in the film. It's basically about a lonely, socially awkward, and disturbed man, trying to find happiness in the world. Sadly when he makes his first real connection, and falls for a girl, his inexperience in interaction with other people, leads to him accidentally killing his love. I won't give anything else away plot wise, except to say that he does fall in love with again with a somewhat disturbed girl, and just as it seems his life is finally looking up, an unexpected twist happens. Angela Bettis does a great job as director this time around, and Lucky Mckee was absolutely dead on in his portrayal of Roman, You really felt for the character.

Well, there's this disturbed guy named Roman who works in a metal shop. He doesn't mix well with others and this isolates him from people especially his co-workers.( The scenes with them are a little sad but also pretty funny.) There are two women in Roman's life. For one of them, well her encounter with Roman doesn't work out too well. The other may or may not be a figment of Roman's imagination. Roman eats a lot of pork and beans.

This isn't a straight horror movie but more of an emo-horror-rom-com. It's some kind of experimental meditation on life, death, art, insanity, loneliness and beans. You might love it; you might decide you've had more than enough after a few minutes. I dunno but it is odd and sometimes interesting. The strangest & most interesting aspect of this movie is that it features Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, in his first appearance in an emo-horror-rom-com. I'd love to know the story behind that. Kristin Bell might surprise you. If you like movies that are deliberately paced, twisted, off-beat and macabre, then give it a try.

I'm not familiar with other work by this crew so I'm just going to review this movie by itself. The first couple of minutes I was sure this would be one of those movies that I would have to fast-forward most of it, but to my surprise I ended up enjoy it. Roman is a lonely anti-social welder who lives a painfully routine life, until he meets a girl who lives in his apartment complex. The girl is adorable and full of life. But Roman is tortured by fantasies and voices in his head. He ends up killing her but because he loves her he keeps the frozen body in his house. Little by little he cuts pieces of her and throws them in a lake.

He meets another girl who is even more lovely than the first and who actually develops a crush for him. She is the artsy type, a little odd, and has a fascination with death. She is working on some art project that she won't reveal until the surprising end.

This is a very low budget movie that makes up for that with a ton of personality. The performances are very good but most importantly the characters are outstanding. Roman is the guy no one is interested in meeting, but if you go through the trouble of meeting him, he's actually alright. The girls are pretty much a guy's fantasy. And Nectar Rose steals basically the show. The script is funny, tender, smart. The problem is that there isn't enough story for a 1:30 minutes film. The camera lingers too long on shots; shots in the dark-and there are lots of them-look pretty terrible. You can tell that the ending isn't going to be nice but it does come as a surprise. It's a shame this movie wasn't made with a higher budget. This is one of the few movies that deserves a remake.

Roman (Lucky McKee) is a lonely guy who becomes obsessed with a young woman (Kristen Bell). That obsession goes horribly awry, but things quickly turn around when Roman strikes up a romance with a young artist named Eva (Nectar Rose).

The movie is considered a spin-off of 2002 cult hit "May". In "May", Angela Bettis played the title role and Lucky McKee directed, roles which have been switched for Roman. It has been said to be a reversed gender version of May, which tells the story of a lonely person who has an obsession with a random stranger. To call it a spin-off seems a stretch, though, as there are no recurring characters.

What this film taught me: Saturday is chili dogs in the cemetery day. But also, Angela Bettis can make a fine film. Throwing in a "Harvey" reference for good measure, and using some amazing body part props, she constructs a good suspense horror romance. Of course, McKee wrote it, but once she has the camera it's her baby.

Surprisingly, Nectar Rose outshines Kristen Bell. I feel little sympathy for Bell, but take a great delight in Rose and her character's actions. McKee, of course, also shows he can act, and plays a perfectly creepy gentleman.

Being a huge fan of the movie May, I was ecstatic in waiting for Roman's release. Upon watching it, I had incredibly mixed feelings on it, but decided I was in love anyway. The character does not have a lot of buildup. You don't get a lot of understanding behind the reclusive character of Roman, or why he's so withdrawn. Roman has a strangely endearing quality about him. Some points you think he's so weird that if you encountered him you'd flee in holy terror, and at other times, you'd embrace him and feed him cookies because he's so lonely and sad. The Girl ("Isis" played by Kristen Bell) was, in my opinion, nothing more than an irritatingly obnoxious object with a bad haircut. Her short time in the film was perfect, just so we didn't have to suffer through more of her. I definitely thought that Eva was much more of a lust-worthy subject for Roman to pursuit. Strange and Lovely. But definitely touched in the head. I was, admittedly, disappointed in the ending.

"Roman" takes the form of a thriller, but functions more as a surprisingly low key character study. An isolated, sad, socially awkward young man works at a factory where he has no friends, and lives alone in a depressing apartment. His only joy is watching a beautiful young neighbor he fantasizes about. In a stroke of luck he ends up on a date with her, but things go horribly, tragically wrong. Before long he has struck up a relationship with a new, free-spirited but death obsessed young artist who has moved into the building, but he remains unable to fully invest himself in the relationship, largely for fear of things going wrong again.

The film was shot on low quality video, and looks very rough, but there are times when that adds to the intimate 'reality' feel. At other times it just looks a little cheap. There's a surprising amount of humor, and Lucky McKee, who wrote the script as well as playing the lead does a good job a creating a very strange protagonist you still find yourself feeling for. Certainly this has it's fair share of flaws, and moments that don't quite come off, but it has originality and bravery on it's side, and in it's best moments it achieves a sort of David Lynch vibe. For a first feature Angela Bettis acquits herself nicely.

Lucky McKee and Angela Bettis delivered one of the finest, most moving, and startling horror films of the early 21st century when they first collaborated on the remarkable "May." McKee and Bettis get back together for this equally striking and unusual affair, this time with McKee as the star and Bettis handling the directorial duties. The results are every bit as strange, moody, and surprising as one would expect. Lonesome and reclusive social misfit Roman (a subtle and convincing performance by McKee, who also wrote the highly idiosyncratic script) pines for a lovely young lady (a brief, but charming and memorable turn by the comely Kristen Bell) who lives in the same drab apartment complex. Roman befriends the object of his desire, but alas accidentally kills her. He decides to store her body in the bathtub and keeps it preserved with ice. Matters get complicated when flaky nonconformist free spirit Eva (delightfully played by the perky and adorable Nectar Rose) enters Roman's life and falls in love with him. McKee and Bettis expertly craft a strangely haunting and poignant character study of a fascinating maladjusted sadsack guy which also works as a very morbid and peculiar, yet thoughtful and provocative meditation on love, death, alienation, the basic human need for companionship, and the insanity of loneliness. Moreover, McKee and Bettis firmly ground the whole thing in an utterly plausible pedestrian reality which adds substantially to the movie's overall effectiveness. McKee and Rose do outstanding work in the lead roles. Kevin Ford's crisp cinematography offers a wondrous wealth of stunningly beautiful visuals. Jaye Barnes Luckett's brooding score likewise hits the harmonic spot. The surprise downbeat ending packs a powerful emotional wallop to the gut. Although the film gets bogged down a bit in overly slow pacing and suffers from a few pretentious stylistic flourishes, it nonetheless has a weirdly timeless quality and quirky appeal that's uniquely its own. Those expecting a standard ooga-booga jump-out-at-you horror shockfest will be disappointed and frustrated in equal measure; folks with a taste for something different and out of the ordinary should really dig this supremely oddball picture. Recommended.

Though an uneven effort, this flick is a dark, quirky gem-in-the-rough, not unlike the agates that don't look like much when you pick them up at Little Girl's Point, but turn out rather stunning after a week in the tumbler. In order to have ANY memory of this film after seeing it, one must skip the crappy extras on the DVD or the last remnant of good feeling toward the feature likely will be canceled out. The patronizing and absurdly repetitious cast & crew interviews last an endless 24 minutes, consisting of these people donning cheap Groucho masks (a gambit that's old in 24 seconds!) and asking each other the same sophomoric handful of questions over and over and over again. The only interesting tidbit to emerge here is that Lucky McKee wrote the first draft of the script in three days when he was a college student. "Alternate cast outtakes" is not much better. These 13 minutes are divided almost equally between two other actors (besides McKee) in the title role of Roman; they both suck. The earlier 2002 aborted effort with Kevin Ford is the more interesting (and, unfortunately, the second presented)--mostly because of background music and a nude chick, neither of which are present in the final 2006 version. It's best to just skip these miserable add-ons, in order to leave the mundane Pirandelloism of the feature's final frames unsullied in the mind's eye. Reinforcing the parting images is Kara and Boyd Jacobson's rendition of the haunting lost youth ditty "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard" over the closing credits, which strongly invites an allegorical interpretation of this whole effort. Like the ephemeral playmates in this bittersweet tune, is it not possible that both "Isis" and Eva are figments of Roman's imagination; competing dream girls on par with Roman's two-minute fantasy about a flowery Earth mother and the alternate FLASHDANCE-styled welder that sets the tone for the movie six minutes in? Throughout the film, Roman is totally inarticulate with his coworkers, his landlord, and his neighbors. Yet he is philosophically verbose with the two ladies. Perhaps he is so taciturn with real people because his interior dialogs drown them out. No doubt the inspiration for this script was the Nineteenth Century Georg Buchner play WOYZECK, which I had to read at the same age McKee was when he wrote this script. An army doctor forces Mr. Woyzeck onto an all-pea diet, which soon causes him to flip out and kill his wife. In McKee's movie, a girl (real or not) entices Roman onto an all-pork & beans diet (cases of the stuff are the main furnishing of his efficiency), with similar murderous results (real or not). Maybe it's time to check on the safety of Morgan Spurlock's significant other, given his all-McDonald's diet?