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Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem

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Clean, Shaven

Clean, Shaven

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Well Depiction of Mental Illness
Review: I must say, after working with chronically mentally ill individuals for years, this movie really does depict what I would consider to be schizophrenia. Peter Winter is absolutely amazing in this movie: his movements, his speech, his mannerisms, and his hallucinations are very good as far as showing us what a chronic patient suffers. As a veiwer, I found myself really empathizing with the character, and truly understanding what it must be like to have such a condition. For that part of the movie, "Clean Shaven" was remarkable, and the character was excellent. The mother of this character was also very good in the movie.

As for the rest of the movie, I have to say that it did not hold up to Peter Winter's performance. The plot was flimsy and it never really went anywhere. The acting by the librarian had to be the worst I have ever witnessed, and I almost found it laughable. As for Lodge Kerrigan's character, I never really understood what his motivation was half the time, didn't know what he was doing, and I was often left thinking, "so what...." Why did he sleep with the woman? How did he find Peter at the beach? What was the robbery scene all about?

The movie was a good examination of "getting inside" someone suffering with schizophrenia, some nice cinematography, and very accurate in its views on society's prejudices and fears about mental illness. The minimal script and conversation seemed forced and canned at times, not really leaving a good impression. I liked the movie, but Peter Winter was the reason for that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Well Depiction of Mental Illness
Review: I must say, after working with chronically mentally ill individuals for years, this movie really does depict what I would consider to be schizophrenia. Peter Winter is absolutely amazing in this movie: his movements, his speech, his mannerisms, and his hallucinations are very good as far as showing us what a chronic patient suffers. As a veiwer, I found myself really empathizing with the character, and truly understanding what it must be like to have such a condition. For that part of the movie, "Clean Shaven" was remarkable, and the character was excellent. The mother of this character was also very good in the movie.

As for the rest of the movie, I have to say that it did not hold up to Peter Winter's performance. The plot was flimsy and it never really went anywhere. The acting by the librarian had to be the worst I have ever witnessed, and I almost found it laughable. As for Lodge Kerrigan's character, I never really understood what his motivation was half the time, didn't know what he was doing, and I was often left thinking, "so what...." Why did he sleep with the woman? How did he find Peter at the beach? What was the robbery scene all about?

The movie was a good examination of "getting inside" someone suffering with schizophrenia, some nice cinematography, and very accurate in its views on society's prejudices and fears about mental illness. The minimal script and conversation seemed forced and canned at times, not really leaving a good impression. I liked the movie, but Peter Winter was the reason for that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Honest, disturbing, unforgettable
Review: I'm French and I had read very good reviews about this movie, but I just saw it on TV a few weeks ago, under the name "Psychopath". I was really impressed. Sometimes it is rather difficult to watch it, because of the breathtaking atmosphere, and some scenes are really gorey. But it is one of the only films where you really get INTO the head of a schizophrenic, and it's frightening. The sound work is just incredible, with the mixed radio frequencies (even in French version). David Lynch's "Eraserhead" is maybe the only other film where, from the beginning to the end, experimental sound effects are so important. The plot is maybe just a bit light and blur, but Peter Greene has such a strong presence. And Lodge Kerrigan manages to bring some emotion in a very cold, clinic and stripped down filming: it's not just a brilliant stylish exercise, it's also a deeply moving human artwork. Definitely great, deserves to be discovered.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Honest, disturbing, unforgettable
Review: I'm French and I had read very good reviews about this movie, but I just saw it on TV a few weeks ago, under the name "Psychopath". I was really impressed. Sometimes it is rather difficult to watch it, because of the breathtaking atmosphere, and some scenes are really gorey. But it is one of the only films where you really get INTO the head of a schizophrenic, and it's frightening. The sound work is just incredible, with the mixed radio frequencies (even in French version). David Lynch's "Eraserhead" is maybe the only other film where, from the beginning to the end, experimental sound effects are so important. The plot is maybe just a bit light and blur, but Peter Greene has such a strong presence. And Lodge Kerrigan manages to bring some emotion in a very cold, clinic and stripped down filming: it's not just a brilliant stylish exercise, it's also a deeply moving human artwork. Definitely great, deserves to be discovered.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very interesting
Review: If you've decided to see only one movie for the rest of your life, this is a good candidate.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jawdropping Cinema
Review: My, oh my...This is the direction that more filmmakers should take. I don't believe that I have ever been so impressed by the imagery of a film from a first-time director as this. Lodge Kerrigan sees angles, shots, and displays mood better than most experienced directors, bar none. Picking Peter Greene to play the lonely schizophreneic is a stroke of casting genius, and all the more amazing, given Greene's penchant for self-destructiveness. The movie is very disturbing, particularly if you have children, and I wouldn't hesitate to keep them out of the viewing room, but the attention to detail is truly jawdropping, given the minute budget. This film was made over the course of 2 years, and although Greene doesn't appear to age, Kerrigan's film shows a tremendously well thought out visual flair. Visually, it reminded me of some early David Lynch works, minus the strange pointlessness and perverse sexuality. Altogether, a wonderful first effort, and an amazing, although largely unseen, performance from Greene. If you can keep your eyes on the screen, you will be shocked and mesmerized.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: ****STIGMATIZING**** PUKE
Review: The movie...ehhh..allright i guess. But it exploits this stereotype of a homicidal maniac that our culture is obsessed with. So its negatives tip the scale towards yakkk. The acting is great, he plays a convincing lead man, Winter. Thats the scary thing, its so believable, yet not true...schitzofrenic people are far different. they can lead normal/average...maybe enlightened, productive lives. The story was told from an interesting angle, through sounds and experiences of a scattered lead character. Theres no doubt that by all common definitions of crazy killers, winter portrays that stereotype excellently.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Gotta disagree with you all
Review: The sound effects and editing in this movie are brilliant as they depict the externalization of a schizophrenic's mind. But once we establish that that's what we're dealing with, so what? He's half the equation, but the director forgot the other half. The detective is the most unconvincing officer of the law I've ever seen. Just wearing a gun and clear gloves and scraping pieces of evidence everywhere you go with a razor blade is not enough to convince me you're a detective. This character rang false all the way through the film. The librarian, in her one short scene with any real dialogue, comes across as a pitiful stereotype of a sex-starved, well, spinster librarian. There are some very effective sequences here, although the dead child's autopsy and the fingernail removal scenes are simply stomach-turning grandstanding. The real horror is with the schizo breaking all the rules of decorum in a public library. Otherwise, this impressive effort goes nowhere and really does nothing. It's just one of those movies where I say, "The filmmaker clearly has some talent -- let's see if he's ever going to use it."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Making sense of insanity.
Review: This film addresses the gross misconceptions concerning schizophrenia that unfortunately still simmer in the public consciousness today. "Clean Shaven" systematically names and attacks these misconceptions. First, the film challenges the the prevailing idea that patients with schizophrenia are more dangerous than the average individual. Second, this film is untainted by embarrassing Freudian foolery. "Clean Shaven" mocks the once-cherished theory that schizophrenia is due to neurotic mothering, thrusting in its place a more enlightened ideology informed by genetic research as to the etiology of this pervasive and debilitating disease. This film is bone-chilling and, at times, reminiscent of Kubrick's "The Shining" in its dogged attempts to accurately depict a psychopathology that is grossly misrepresented in all forms of media.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie.
Review: This is a great film about a schzophrneaic that is released from an insane ayslum. Peter Green (Pulp Fiction, The Mask) pulls in a powerful and unforgetable preformence. The plot follows Green as he goes to his home town insearch of his daughter. When he gets there, a young girl is murdered and a P.I. goes after Green. The movie is brillently acted with very little dialoge from everyone in the movie. The movie won several awards in Sundance Film Festival and made someone faint during a showing at Sundance. A well disvered 5 star movie, see this one ASAP.


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