By Ezra Stead
Red State, USA, 2011
Written and Directed by Kevin Smith
Last week in my Halloween Movie Month series, we took a look at The Skin I Live In, an unusual film from director Pedro Almodovar, who is not usually known for the kind of shock and horror seen in that film. I am always excited to see my favorite filmmakers stretch beyond what they normally produce and explore other genres. For years I have been wanting to see Wes Anderson tackle some sort of gothic horror story, for example, given his obsessively detailed visual style in films like The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), instead of retreading the familiar ground of his previous films; when he finally made the Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009, I applauded him for stepping (even slightly) in a different direction by directing an animated film. Similarly, I applaud Kevin Smith for stepping away from the talky, visually underwhelming comedies for which he is known with his latest film, Red State, a nasty, tense, visceral thriller that, while satirical and occasionally funny, is miles away from a comedy.
Red State is a cinematic middle finger to the vicious, hateful Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, an organization best known for the highly tasteful and respectable practice of protesting funerals in order to garner controversy. They also recently decided to protest the funeral of Apple founder Steve Jobs, because, according to Phelps, he “had a huge platform [but] gave God no glory & taught sin,” a sentiment ironically expressed via Phelps’s iPhone. Phelps and his family and followers are true believers in the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and it is tempting (and very easy) to hate them right back, which is exactly what they seem to want. Though Phelps is eventually mentioned by name in the film’s narrative, his overt fictional surrogate is one Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), a malevolent, fire-and-brimstone preacher who looks a bit like a more diminutive Kris Kristofferson with eyeglasses. Cooper and his followers regularly hold demonstrations in which they hold up signs offering such charming sentiments as “Anal Penetration = Eternal Damnation.” Read More
Meet Mavis Gary. Peculiar name, sure, but consider the woman. She’s an alcoholic, forever single, 40-year-old former beauty queen for Minnesota; Mercury, to be exact. Fitting that someone so alienating should come from a place named after a planet. It’s worth noting that Young Adult doesn’t follow any sort of conventional formula (even if that in itself is becoming a bit conventional these days). Diablo Cody, who won a well-deserved Oscar for writing Juno (2007), and Jason Reitman, who received a well-deserved nomination for directing it, team up again to bring us this divisive film. That’s probably the best way of putting it. It seems to be something you either fall in love with, or hate from the moment it starts. I’m happy to say that I fell in love with it, and its characters. Even Mavis. Read More
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