I have always admired the rogue directors who choose to make bold artistic statements with their work, Those who push the boundaries of film narrative, demand attention and offer a bit of a challenge to the audience. It's these risk-takers who thrill and excite me- these artists who dare to wander into the darker alleys of our psyche and explore the more complex, intricate elements of human existence.
If this sounds profound and refreshing to your intellect, this may indeed be the film for you. And in 2 Kings, we have just such a journey.
Richly laced with hidden nuggets of discovery and delightful surprises, this is a film with layered secrets. An intelligent story scraped out from deep within the soft folds of the human psyche, it deftly addresses uncomfortable elements of the human condition. I was absolutely thrilled with the smörgåsbord of savory treats, all served up on a rich, color saturated platter. I found myself delightfully overwhelmed with a nearly tactile experience, gorging on a plethora of feelings and emotions- sadness, loneliness, despair, anger, humor, joy, disgust, horror, unconditional love, and ultimately surprise and sympathy with the arrival of the film's unexpected but solid conclusion. All this rides on a formidable and looming sense of doom that constantly forms a shadow over the story, and a subterranean pulsating weight of uneasiness constantly creeps and grows just below the surface, upsetting your footing. Youthful innocence is choked and scarred with tragic turn-of-events, a personality disorder ripens and starts to rot and spoil as we look on, bittersweet decisions of questionable need and merits are tossed around in chunks, acrid sociopath character flaws stream across the narrative in rivulets, soured behavior traits and exposed kernels of frailty of id and human vulnerability bubble and spit. This hearty stew simmers steadily with all these base ingredients and figurative fatty table scraps, slowly reducing into a meaty pulp of a narrative thick and dense with heady possibilities until the pot finally explodes. This, in the form of a fugue state that ruptures the thick opaque layer of crust coating the surface, extinguishing the narrative flame. The story to rapidly cools to conclusion, the raw nerves and deep wounds of a tragic sequence of events glazing over and coagulating for one last time.
With a refined and skilled hand, the director takes this winding short story coursing along at a deceptively lucid clip. The quality narrative, gorgeous cinematography and exceptional, fluid editing are executed with deftly and professionally. The grasp the director has of these elements of film-making allow him to weave together an odd yet potent and complimentary range of underlying themes and emotions, swinging fluidly from subtle and warming to wild and brutal. Again, I was especially impressed with the artistic flair running throughout the virile cinematography- I often caught myself marveling at the technical aspects of the scene structures and choices of color palate- enough to consider many scenes worthy of a still print. The clever angles chosen to frame the action to the well thought out use of color palates ranging from soft and lilting to etched and extreme, all to appropriately compliment the action unfolding on the screen. This effort deserve great applause. Add to this the superb and refined editing, and what unfolds is a precise, well executed result. The timing is impeccable on many a scene, is sublime when needed and intentionally uncomfortable and provoking when called for. A seamless, even keeled pace is achieved with the occasional ragged edges of cutting edge cinema slicing into your soft belly when you least expect it and the storyline demands it.I was impressed with the level of angst and tension conveyed in this film, and all of it done so beautifully and convincing.
The acting- well, what else could one say but "bravo!", not just for what you see on the surface- it's especially poignant when it finally sinks in at what's really going on here, folks. And mind you, not just the initial baby-step moment of enlightenment that dawns upon you as you start to break through to the layers but the shocking jolt that occurs as (or if) you unearth the core of what's really going on here. It runs much much deeper than appearances lead on. What an added treat this was to discover! Indeed the quintessential frosted topping on a multi-layer cake.
All in all, this film possesses a well refined, quality cinematic experience that is only topped by the film's biggest and greatest feat- a secret that truly magnifies the scope of what really has been accomplished here, and warrants one to re-consider everything that they have just witnessed. Only then will one properly understand the level of lofty artistic merit achieved. To say I was impressed would be unfair, as the impact was much greater.
Kudos to such a strong effort- It's my belief that with what Jon Alex has achieved with this film, future endeavors from Perception // One Man Band can only continue to delight and challenge.
