Title: Abuse: The Movie
Genre: Drama/Experimental
Length: 3:03
Specs: 16mm, color, post-sync sound
Synopsis: A young man grapples with terror at the hands of domineering women in his life.
Commentary: I had this idea in my head that I could make a really funny film satirizing the conventions of “artsy” student films, all of which brazenly defied the conventions of narrative filmmaking while strictly adhering to a new set of conventions (sort of like people who try to be “different” by dressing like every other goth/punk/whatever): incoherent editing, repeated shots, meaningless symbolism, pretentious voiceover, and themes of crippling gynophobia (sometimes misogyny leaked in, but 90% of the time it was utter fear of women, which hadn’t yet turned into hate).
Rewatching the film, I think it holds up better than my initial reaction. I wasn’t happy with it, in part because I ran out of time to add a lot of the “weird” symbols I had planned in my treatment. It mostly just turned into Coke product placement. I also wasn’t happy with it because it didn’t seem that funny; it seemed more like what I was satirizing than a critique of it. However, I now feel like it does have some pretty amusing moments (notably the absurd sound design—the brakes squealing on that passing car literally made me laugh out loud just typing it—and the button on the story about the old agoraphobic man). (Trivia: Careful listeners may realize my narration was an attempt to parody Ben Browder’s ultra-serious, vaguely pretentious narration at the beginning of the third and fourth seasons of Farscape. I love the show and think Browder is pretty great in it, but his narration always made me laugh.)
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