Proxy

  Woah. Zack Parker's Proxy is one to watch out for. In both meanings. Keep an eye out for it, and be wary of it just as much. It's not an easy movie to watch. It goes into sacred territory, thematically, and starts screwing around. It's not quite like any other movie I've ever seen. It's confident in the way it casts aside conventional storytelling structure to deliver a wholly mind boggling movie. You could follow every subtle cue, pay attention to every single twist and plot turn, but it wouldn't matter because Proxy doesn't care. It's biggest shocking moments are things that have stepped entirely outside of the plot. It's impossible to see these moments coming. Each one drastically changes the landscape of the story, tossing all your predictions and expectations to the wind.

  The movie suffers from it just as much as it benefits. Having these drastic shocking things happen almost out of the blue can either frustrate an audience, or intrigue it. If you're looking for atmosphere, character, suspense, and pure shock value- this is the movie for you. If you're looking for a coherent story and conventional scares... look elsewhere. Proxy gets under your skin by letting you think you know how things are. It lets you think you know what's going on. But there's a nagging feeling you haven't seen all the cards, and no matter how many more end up being revealed... Proxy is still hiding more from you. It does get to a point where the twists stop making any sort of conventional sense. But not because they're random, because there's probably yet another piece to the puzzle we're missing.

  Considering how the movie is, it's not hard to wonder if you'll ever see the whole picture. I can't say either way, but I was strangely satisfied with the conclusion. Something you really shouldn't expect from this movie, is horror. It's a very disturbing movie for sure, but it's a very slow and methodical film at the same time. It lulls you into a false sense of security before things go very very wrong. It's hard to discuss this movie at all without giving away some of the things that make it great. So I'll try to refrain from over-reviewing it, and stick to the facts of the matter. Is it a good movie? I wish I had a definitive answer. It feels experimental in nature, but not to any avant garde extreme. It's engaging and endlessly engrossing, but it violates so many basic rules of storytelling that I can't in good conscious say it's precisely good either.

  Is it worth watching? I do wholeheartedly believe so. It's really unconventional and interesting in very unexpected ways. The lead characters are incredibly well acted. They bring the movie to life with gusto, proving to be willing pawns on a blood stained chessboard. The movie is lurid and depressing at best, but it's in this depression that it also manages to be inspired. It's a movie about loss, pain, recovery, insanity, forbidden love, and violence. It's as much about what's said as it is about what's not said. Which in this movie, is incredibly important. The cast is fantastic, even if a few members are shortchanged of any significant screentime, I felt they got their due throughout.

  I feel that there was a bigger goal with Proxy, that maybe it was originally going to be something else. There's enough crazy and madness here for a few different movies. Yet Parker has wove them all together with a deft hand, crafting a surreal and shocking tale that I won't soon forget.  See it. You may or may not regret it, but I warn you... it is violent. Brace yourself. It's crazy, emotional, dark, slow, sad, and bloody. I've never been so engrossed in such a languid and sordid affair like this before.  I normally try to hold myself to a six paragraph minimum when reviewing a movie, but there's simply nothing else I can address without spoiling this movie I'm already recommending to you.