The Eclectic Choice: Return To Oz

Return To Oz (1985)
dir. Walter Murch


Man did this movie take a beating when it was first released. There was all kinds of flak over the fact that Disney was making a "sequel" to such a beloved film. Not to mention this one wasn't a musical. For shame. Never mind the fact that the original film was a perversion of a book by L. Frank Baum.

Return To Oz did exactly what it should have done. Go back to the original source material. By doing so, legendary editor and sound designer Walter Murch made his first and only foray into directing a memorable one. This isn't our parents Oz.

Darker, twisted and a lot of fun, Dorthy is sent to a hospital for delusions after she has talked up her first visit to Oz. The cure is going to be electroshock, but she is rescued by a mysterious patient and they escape into a storm that eventually leads a lone Dorthy back to Oz. There she discovers a destroyed Emerald City, A Gnome King who can move through solid rock and a Wicked Queen who has a variety of snap on heads to choose from.

She is also joined by a new cast of side kicks include a wind up robot, a living jack-o-lantern and a talking chicken. Together they seek to rescue the Scarecrow and return Oz to the pristine state it once was. It's a quest of the bizarre and a real cinematic treat.

Were this movie made in the franchise minded culture of today, it could be a big hit. Baum had written 14 Oz books, and the idea of a female protagonist running around a magical world could be a real hit amongst the Harry Potter lovers. Alas it was not meant to be. But we do have this adventure to enjoy and it's well worth the trip. I wouldn't recommend it for younger viewers, it does have a more macabre edginess to it and the effects, though good for the time, are showing their age.

This is another entry of a Disney struggling to find an audience. Along with other risks of the era like The Black Hole (1979), or Tron (1982), Oz was a failure at the box office, but now has more than a few aspects that make it an overlooked flick that's worth a second look.

The Eclectic Choice: Family Plot

Family Plot (1976)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock

This isn't Rear Window (1954), Psycho (1960), Vertigo (1958) or Strangers On A Train (1951). Hitchcock has a list of classics a football field long, and sure, this isn't one of them. Sure it may be flawed, silly, fluffy fun, but it is Hitch's last film and there is a lot more to it than you might expect.

The main plot circles around a fake, or is she, psychic who along with her cab driving boyfriend decide to hunt down an heir to a fortune. These characters are played with charisma and some real genuine chemistry by Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris. It's a blast to watch these two together. they have this rhythm that feels like a couple in love, even through the minor bickering of everyday life. Dern is a very different character than we are used to seeing. Sure he's quirky, but far from the nut-ball borderline psychos hat he is famous for. It is a real shame Barbara Harris was dealing with personal problems that stifled her career. Between this, Nashville (1975) and Freaky Friday (1968), it's impossible not to notice her incredible range and the cute-as-a-button looks this lady has. I really wish she was able to do more.

The weakness of the movie is William Devane who is always dependable, but is always William Devane. The character is weak and his subplot to kidnap people and ransom them for diamonds never really takes off. Karen Black plays Devane's accomplice, but isn't given much to do.

It's fun and frothier then most of Hitchcock's work, but it also includes a lot of the masters touches that made him such a great filmmaker. Does it stand up to his best films? Of course not, but few movies can or ever will be able to hold up such standards. Hitch may have not gone out with a bang, but as he literally ends his cinematic career with a wink at the camera, it reminds us that the man was never about delivering the normal set of expectations.

The Eclectic Choice: Quid Pro Quo

Quid Pro Quo (2008)
dir. Carlos Brooks

Mark Cuban may by as nuts and rich as the Crazy Texan on The Simpson's, but he has done quite a bit of good when it comes to independent cinema. He green lit Steven Soderbergh's experimental HDV movies as well as several other small films. Quid Pro Quo was one of those movies and even though it may not be perfect, it is a very interesting ride.

Nick Stahl plays a paraplegic radio show host who begins to investigate a subculture that wishes to be paralyzed. These people fantasize about it during secret group discussions and even have their own wheelchairs or braces to use in the privacy of their own homes. How ever odd it sounds, it is a very real condition and it's the"why" that this movie chooses to explore.

Stahl is a very good actor who gets very few roles that suit him. He's great here and plays well against the always impressive Vera Farmiga as the mysterious woman, who introduces him to this underground phenomena and has several secrets of her own.

Equal parts film noir, psychological thriller and emotional enlightenment, this may not be the second coming of independent cinema, but it is very original and well executed story. It's also incredibly short, clocking in at an hour-twenty with credits.

You can check it out on Netflix streaming, but I'd recommend seeing it on DVD since the quality of the stream tends to soften some really interesting cinematography.

The Eclectic Choice: The Exorcist 3

The Exorcist 3 (1989)
dir. William Peter Blatty

This is one of those rare occasions when a equal made twenty years after the original actually turns out to be good. As a matter of fact it's even better than part two which was just down right awful. Yes, I'm saying it and will wear it with a badge of honor, The Exorcist 3 is a really good horror film.

It's got a great performance by the master George C. Scott. In the film he plays Detective Kinderman who was portrayed in the original film by Lee J. Cobb. The film picks up twenty years later (fitting) and Kinderman is on the trail of a serial killer who happens to kill the same fashion that a presumably dead serial killer used to. This leads to all sorts of questions and a patient in an insane asylum who happens to look a lot like Father Karras, the priest who took a tumble down the stairs at the end of the first one. Hmmmmm, this could get interesting.

Filled with a moody and terror filled atmosphere, William Peter Blatty made a wonderfully underrated horror film that has it's fans, but has yet to reach the position it so righteously deserves. Scott did well in the horror genre between this film and the classic ghost story The Changeling (1980). It also has one of the best ball busting friendships in cinema history. You can't help but smile as Scott and Ed Flanders (no relation to Ned) banter back and forth with frothy sarcasm, but show that deep caring of old friends in the smaller moments. It's a great relationship, though short lived on screen.

If you haven't seen this movie, you're missing out. You'll never trust people who crawl on the ceiling again.

The Eclectic Choice: Exterminating Angel

Exterminating Angel (1962)
dir. Luis Buñuel

I recently saw this film after hearing about it for a very long time. Back in college I had a friend who loved it, but his wife didn't understand why the people just didn't leave the house. They're now divorced. Perhaps this movie is a telling sign if a relationship will make it. Then again maybe not.

A group of Bourgeois get together at a mansion for the evening and for some reason can't leave. There is no physical explanation and a reason is never given. But symbolically it all makes sense. This is real magic from the maestro of surrealism Luis Buñuel and well worth watching more then once.

Laced with social satire and religious symbolism, there is a good reason why Buñuel is considered one of the best and this film proves it. Filled with humor and a clausterphobic atmosphere, you may be running for fresh air by the time it's over. When you toss open the window and feel the breeze against your face, the world may look a little different thanks to this film. Not wrong, just different.

Add it to the collection today.You won't be dissapointed, unless your a certain ex-wife.

The Eclectic Choice: Le Magnifique

Le Magnifique (1973)
dir. Philippe de Broca


This is a lot of fun and has Jacqueline Bisset who is just drop dead sexy. The plot revolves around Jean-Paul Belmondo as a writer of bad spy novels. He incorporates everyone around him into the stories and sees himself as the lead character Bob Saint-Clair.

It's a crazy romp that moves between the reality of Belmondo's lack luster existence and struggle just to get his typewriter fixed to the over the top world of espionage where he's the perfect spy and lover.

If you haven't seen it and you are a fan of the french farce, see it. If you're a fan of Belmondo and want to see him ham it up, see it. If you enjoy Bisset playing the sex kitten, see it. If you want to kick back, relax and enjoy a funny piece of fluff that does no damage and has it's heart in the right place... well you get the picture.

The Eclectic Choice: Performance

Performance (1970)
dir. Donad Cammell & Nicholas Roeg


Another pick from Cammell and his cohort in crime Nicholas Roeg who would go on to a very impressive career of his own. This was the first directing gig for both of them and the results would be a mind bending look at identity, inspiration and culture clash.

Mick Jagger plays a rock and roller who is dried up and looking for that magic touch. James Fox plays a hitman who is on the lamb from a job gone wrong and ends up renting the guest room in Jagger's pad. Then all the rules are thrown out the window.

This is a really bizarre flick that is all over the map as it delves into philosophy and the surrounding counter culture. More than anything though it is an incredibly well acted and stylized, showing off the developing talents of both of its creators. Plus it contains one of the best lesser known Mick Jagger songs, "Memo From Turner" as well as a psychedelic soundtrack from the likes of Jack Nitzsche, Randy Newman and Merry Clayton.

Well worth the purchase if you want to see something very off the wall.

The Eclectic Choice: Demon Seed

Demon Seed (1977)
dir. Donald Cammell

In the science fiction sub-genre of computers coming to life, Demon Seed takes the cake for being one of the more bizarre and that's what makes it great. Sure you have films like Colossus: The Forbidden Project (1970), War Games (1983), 2001 (1968), and Electric Dreams (1984), but none of these come close to the twisted killer computer Proteus IV.

Fritz Weaver plays a scientist who has built the super computer which quickly outgrows it's human masters. It takes over the house of Weaver's estranged wife played by the eternaly sexy Julie Christie. Well, since Proteus has already learned everything about humanity, now it want to be human, or at least breed and that's where Christie comes in handy. Yes, where else can you get scene after scene of a computer working to convice a terrified woman that they need to have intercourse?

However campy it sounds, it's actually very unnerving and has some wild visuals provided by artist turned director Cammell. The impressive geometric shape that Proteus takes on has a certain sublime grace as it moves through scenes, shifting and slithering to manuvere around. The entire film may look dated, but think of it as part science fiction, part body horror, part expiremental video project. If that doesn't do it for you, Christie's performance should, she's amazing in this one.

Personally I think it's a real gem and a masterpiece in a surreal way. You may not want to own it, but see it with an open mind and you might discover a very original and bold piece of filmmaking.

The Eclectic Choice: Dillinger

Dillinger (1973)
dir. John Milius

With Public Enemies (2009) coming out this summer, I thought it would be good to point out a real gem that covers the same territory. This time around Warren Oates plays our quintessential criminal and heads a great cast that includes Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman as the woman in red.

With a fun jail break, some great energy by Oates and real thrills, Milius made his big screen debut with this highly underrated movie. Johnson gives a stand out performance as well playing Melvin Purvis, a man who seeks two things, good press and John Dillinger. Falling somewhere between Bonnie And Clyde (1968) and Badlands (1973) with its technique and picturesque landscapes, this film also contains some riveting violence, in the vein of Peckinpah, that can still take you off guard, even by today's standards.

A must own, even though it's a bare bones DVD. It really should have a special edition Blu-ray with Milius giving a gravelly commentary on the life of one of our history's most colorful criminals.

The Eclectic Choice: The Hunger

The Hunger (1983)
dir. Tony Scott


Picture a time when vampires movies weren't about sexy looking people hanging out in stylish clothing and rocking the night away before seductively bringing home the next victim. Yes, there was such a time.

Then 1983 came, Tony Scott made The Hunger and it was all over. I would harbor a guess that it was this film and The Lost Boys (1987) that ushered in the uber-cool vampire. The Hunger has a few things going for it. One, a sexy 80's looking Catherine Deneuve having a love scene with a sexy 80's looking Susan Sarandon. Two, David Bowie in some good aging makeup. And Three, Bauhaus in the opening credits performing Bela Lugosi Is Dead. A scene that basically says, we're crushing all the rules and starting something new. These vampires can survive in sunlight, come from Egypt and have lovers that quickly age and get stored in the attic to suffer for eternity.

This is not the worlds best vampire movie, but it did introduce us to a new type of vampire that would influence the genre and brought Tony Scott into the mainstream. You can judge for yourself if either of those are beneficial. It's an inexpensive and worthy purchase, so don't forget to give a listen to the commentary track by Scott and Sarandon.

The Eclectic Choice: The 10th Victim

The 10th Victim (1965)
dir. Elio Petri


Before Schwarzenegger was The Running Man (1987). Before reality TV saturated us to the gills with varying degrees of fecal matter. Before something else that has relevance to this argument I'm trying to make, there was Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress in a hunt to the death on national television. It has twists and turns and a who's scamming who that keeps changing up until the closing credits.

In this entertaining satire about the future of television, everyone gathers around to see who will live and who will die as one hunts and one runs. It's a lot of fun and Mastroianni is suave and charming and just one of the cooler guys who ever walked the planet. Andress is sexy and animalistic and could tare a guy apart and every guy would want her to do that. They make a charismatic couple and the chemistry is top notch as they cat and mouse back and forth. It also has some of that fun 60's "In The Future" production design where everyone is wearing hip clothes and lots of bubbles in the set design. It's not as over the top as Danger Diabolik (1996), but still what the kids would call "Retro" today.

Well worth addingto the collection if just to have playing in the background during a swank cocktail party.

The Eclectic Choice: King Of The Zombies

King Of The Zombies (1941)
dir. Jean Yarbrough

During World War II, three men searching for a missing Army Admiral are involved in a plane crash in the Caribbean. They come across a spooky castle run by Dr. Sangre. The area is filled with mindless zombies and Dr. Sangre is actually after secret plans to help his unnamed country win the war. He uses the zombies and voodoo in an attempt to make this happen.

This is a real wacky film and goofy fun. The main character isn't any of the broad shouldered white guys, but Mantan Moreland who plays Jeff, the African American "sidekick" to the white guys. Jeff runs around bug-eyed and whoopin' up a storm as he plays a Skip N' Fetchit creating all of the comedy in this film. Could it be considered racist by today's standards? Hell yes, which is part of what makes it an entertaining film. It helps that it was an intentional comedy/horror, but you laugh today for a whole different set of reasons. Though, to his credit, Moreland delivers some very funny lines in a manner that catches you off guard in their subtlety.

Clocking in at barely over an hour this is still a lot of fun today and an interesting look at low budget horror films and how racial expectations created comedy.

Well worth a purchase since it is double featured with Revolt Of The Zombies (1936), which isn't that great, but has a few moments.

Pistoleros (2007)
dir. Shaky González


Yet another entry in the Tarantino/Ritchie inspired gangster genre. The last one I looked at was Matando Cabos (2004) from Mexico and now here is one from Denmark. Don't be fooled by the title and name of the director, it is a Danish film.

This film attempts nonlinear storytelling, which technically it achieves, but lacks a certain cleverness in its telling. Several characters are after a a bag of loot that was taken from a train robbery. All of this is being told in two levels of flashback. Yes, two. The first level is the story being told to a young filmmaker and his Hottie producer. The second level is within the story as the story is being told to a greasy low level hood who ends up getting involved in the hunt for the cash. (Was that confusing or just poor sentence structure?) Some of the performances are fun and whenever the film seems to want to slow down, a comedically violent contrivance is thrown at us to keep things moving. It also decides to pay direct homage to the westerns of Sergio Leone by using music from A Fistful Of Dollars (1964) throughout.

It wants to try and play with the conventions of urban myth and how truth and fiction can become warped, but doesn't really sell it by the end. There is also an odd moment where the young filmmaker being told the story thinks he sees one of the main characters in a bar. It makes no sense since he'd have no idea what the guy looks like. I think it's there to drive home the idea of how myths grow, but ends up being ridiculous.

It's worth a look if you're bored some evening and need some escapist fair, but don't expect anything deep or emotionally involving. I recommend it for some of the acting, but be prepared for some major leaps in logic. The nice part is you'll be able to say to people how you just checked out a film by Shaky González. It's a fun name to say when using your best Don LaFontaine voice.

The Eclectic Choice: After The Wedding

After The Wedding (2007)
dir. Susanne Bier


Mads Mikkelsen is a really great actor. He did amazing work in the Pusher (1996/2004) movies and was first scene in the states as the baddie in Casino Royale (2007), but he's now in a whole different realm for me. I rented this film wanting to see him outside of the wheelhouse that I had created for him and he delivers with a performance that is touching, willing to be confused, scared and at times ugly only to find the acceptance that is needed to see why he has been brought into this drama.

The film itself is excellent as it pours on what could have been layer upon layer of cliché, but twists it and turns it into an honest look at a family and the flaws that make them exquisite human beings. It is almost impossible to go into a description about the plot without giving away any of the twists and turns that lead us through these characters lives. The basic concept is that Miklesen's character is asked to go to Denmark to meet a potential beneficiary that is necessary to keep the orphanage that Mikkelsen has started up in India. From there is just builds layer upon layer until you reach an emotional climax that seems like a damn breaking.

Mads Mikkelsen

Nominated for best foreign language film the same year as The Lives Of Others (2006) and Pan's Labrynth (2006), this one got a little lost in the mix, but you should check it out nowto see a really well made family drama as well as some outstanding work by Mikkelsen.

The Eclectic Choice: Viva

Viva (2007)
dir. Anna Biller


This is an impressive debut from a woman who has a real eye for creating a world that is drenched in 0's nostalgia. I'm not just talking about bell bottoms and afros, this is a world of crappy cologne, tacky pantsuits, and macrame plant holders filmed so lovingly that it is almost creepy.

Falling somewhere between a John Waters' film and Louis Buñuel's Belle de Jour (1967), Viva tells the story of bored housewives trying to live life in the swinging 70's. With a rich palette that makes everything pop, this is a visually arresting send up of sexploitation movies right down to the camera placement and a Doris Wishmanesque visit to a nudist colony.

It does run long at two hours, meandering at times in order to revel in it's exploitative roots while working to deliver a fresh approach on feminist cinema. A tighter film would play better, but this is the first feature from a filmmaker with a ton of promise and it's worth watching just to see its exacting design and execution. Biller not only stars and directs the film, but also wrote, edited, designed costumes as well as the entire production. That's a hell of a lot of work so I'll let her indulgence slide on this one. When she learns how to let things go and fine tune, she'll be unstoppable.

I'd say it's worth the purchase just to be able to watch specific scenes whenever you want or show off some scenes to friends, which you will.

The Eclectic Choice: Matando Cabos

Matando Cabos (2004)
dir. Alejandro Lozano


Not a great movie, but it has it's moments. Inspired by independent American films from people like Tarantino and Jarmusch, Matando Cabos (Killing Cabos) weaves together several storylines about love, kidnapping, revenge, an extasy popping Lucha Libre and a cannibal midget into what should be a high octane roller coaster ride through two days in Mexico City. Instead it's more like one of those roller coaster simulators you ride on the Santa Monica pier, but like I said, that's not exactly a bad thing.

The entire story is rooted around Oscar Cabos, a real scumbag executive who spends most of the movie knocked out and tied up. He passes from trunk to trunk and identities are mistaken as his old friend/enemy is also kidnapped and abused more than Cabos. The character palate continues to expand until it's all around chaos that finds a way to wrap itself up by the end.

Most of the time you get the feeling it's a poorly made Guy Ritchie movie, but lacks any of the kinetic style, so several of the moments that should be gripping or feel like a fever dream just lay flat on the floor. Over all though, it is an interesting exercise and has enough imagination to keep you watching. It's a good example of why these types of films work in some hands and don't in others.

Give it a rent, but probably not worth owning, Matando Cabos shows there is a lot more going on in Mexican cinema than we might perceive and it's worth keeping an eye on.

The Eclectic Choice: Edgar Wallace Collection Vol.2

Edgar Wallace Collection Vol. 1 (1959/1963)
dir. Harald Reinl/Edwin Zbonek


Edgar Wallace was one of the more prominent mystery/thriller writers in the early 20th century and is best known to film geeks today as one of the original writers on King Kong. But in post war Germany, there was a resurgence of his fiction being turned into film. Most of these were championed by producer Artur Brauner who worked effortlessly to reestablish the German film industry in the 1950's. He succeeded mostly in creating a treasure trove of genre pulp ranging from the disposable to the lost classic. In the first volume of these Edgar Wallace based films, we get to see two of the better offerings.

The first is The Mad Executioners (1963) about a hooded group of gents who put London's criminals on trial and then execute them with a certain level of pomp and circumstance. It's moody and atmospheric and has a bizarre subplot that ties into the cavorting hangmen, but feels slightly out of place. If I say it concerns mad doctor cutting the heads off of women to keep them alive on an artificial body, it sounds like a different movie entirely, but it's not. It does become a bit of a brow scratcher, but still fun with some production design that hearkens back to the good old days of expressionism.

The second was not produced by Brauner, but directed by a director he used often, Harald Reinl. Reinl would direct many of the Brauner produced Dr. Mabuse films as well as the cult documentary Chariots Of The Gods (1972). Here, Reinl gives us Fellowship Of The Frog (1959). This one concerns a group of thieves lead by "The Frog" who runs around in a covered face mask with bulbous eyes and brands members of his syndicate with a frog tattoo. This one is a little more corny and has some plotting issues, but one of the oddest character cameos in movie history. It comes to light that The Frog is none other than Harry Lime from The Third Man (1949)! Really? Interesting. Wallace's story was written years before Reed's film and the character was created by Graham Green in 1948. So it seems like one of those gimmicks to bring in some ticket sales. The actor who plays Lime looks nothing like Orson Welles accept for bulk weight and may not have been named Lime in the original German version. Both of these films are dubbed, so who knows if the original character was Lime or not. It' s a good gimmick though, I perked right up when I heard the name and it earned a few more points for having the balls to say it was a Harry Lime crime scheme.

The prints are not the best quality, sometimes downright awful, but it adds a little something. It's like finding a lost relic covered in dust, but seeing the beauty underneath. Overall they are an easy view and quite enjoyable as camp or even a studious look at the German film industry when they were stumbling around trying to find a voice again. With the exception of the dubbing, you'd never know they were foreign at all. They maintain the same level of quality, if not better, than some of the Hollywood B-movies of the era.

Well worth renting or a purchase to revisit an era that has been long brushed aside for artier fare.

The Eclectic Choice: Perfume

Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer (2006)

dir. Tom Tykwer

Director Tom Tykwer broke through in America with the wild Run Lola Run (1998). Since then he remained his own man and made such diverse fair as The Princes And The Warrior (2000), Heaven (2002) and the Clive Owen thriller The International (2009). No one could predict one project leading to another and no one could predict how successful he'd be in adapting the book, Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer.

This was a novel that was claimed by many to be unfilmable. Even Stanley Kubrick said it couldn't be done! But Tykwer proved everyone wrong by creating a thrilling, humorous and scent filled movie that doesn't even require smell-o-vision to attack your olfactory lobe. Tykwer found visual and musical patterns that help create a sense of smell and a main character with motives so unique it's hard to tell if you are for him or against him.

Ben Wishaw turns in a marvelous performance as Grenouille. He moves from situation to situation encountering scent after scent until he becomes so obsessed with creating the most incredible perfume, that he resorts to a series of killings. The outcome if this adventure could never be guessed and the ending is pretty damned divisive. It's so out there I still remember saying, "What the fuck?" out loud in the theater.

Some of the acting is uneven and there are small moments with pacing problems, but it is an overall satisfying ride and very original. Derivative is a word that does not exist in this movie.

Buy it now, but don't expect this to smell pretty to everyone.

The Eclectic Choice: Ruthless

Ruthless (1948)
dir. Edgar G. Ulmer


Ulmer was a real king of the B film world and ruthless is no exception. It may not carry over a lot of the visual flourishes from his masterpiece Detour (1945), but it is a fascinating little noir that looks at love, greed and ambition with a fun story and some pretty well drawn characters.

It's a bit like Citizen Kane (1941) with its flashback structure as we follow the life of Horace Woodruff Vendig. Opening at a party celebrating Vendig's philanthropy, we're introduced to people from his past. This triggers the flashbacks, starting with his impoverished childhood and the act of humanity that begins his cutthroat journey to the top of the investment world.

The acting is par with the exception of the always awesome Sydney Greenstreet as Buck Mansfield, the big financial fish that Vendig sets his eyes on destroying. Greenstreet is one of those character actors that light up the screen and give anything he does a level of energy and easy charm. There is a very small cameo by a mustachioed Raymond Burr that is also fun as he passes on money and advice to a young Vendig in an early flashback, but Greenstreet steals the show.

Ulmer was a filmmaker that was known for squeezing as much as possible out of a ten dollar budget. The seams always show, but there are always moments that rise above it's poverty row roots and delve into a dark side of humanity that very few big budget filmmakers could have gotten away with.

I can't really recommend a purchase though because of the quality of the print. But it's well worth a rent and discussion with fellow film nerds after.

The Eclectic Choice: Jackpot

Jackpot (2001)
dir. Michael Polish
written by Mark and Michael Polish


This is the second film by Mark and Michael Polish, twin brothers who delivered one of the more underrated debuts of the 90's, Twin Falls Idaho (1999). In Jackpot, the brothers deliver another off the wall film about a guy who wants to be a singing sensation and sets out by conquering the karaoke world.

John Gries gives one of his best performances as Sunny Holiday, the aspiring singer who is on a nine month road trip wit his manager played by Garrett Morris. The twosome travel from seedy bar to seedy bar waiting for Sunny's big break as he croons his way through karaoke competitions and sell carpet stain remover to make extra cash. Gries gives Sunny a heartbreaking optimism that sets the tone and allows every surrealistic situation to come alive with an almost dreamlike quality. It is a tone that comes crashing down to reality when Daryl Hannah, as Sunny's wife, forces Sunny to look at his life and make some heavy decisions.

This is a film that spells quirk with a capital Q and reinforces a vision of two filmmakers who are unique and continually overlooked. With other films like Northfork (2003), The Astronaut Farmer (2006) and the upcoming Manure (2009), Mark and Michael Polish are real modern day representatives of independent cinema who seem to continually get lost behind the more commercialized Napoleon Dynamites and Junos in this world.