THE WATERMELON is a small-budgeted comedy-drama full of characters who range from flaky to downright insane. Our hero, Achilles, is stewing at home in clouds of pot smoke following a nasty divorce. His estranged stepfather dies and leaves him a trailer that his step-sister had painted like a watermelon. The presence of the colorful trailer next to his house draws a succession of oddballs into his life, most consequentially a homeless woman fleeing her own bad relationship, and the step-sister returning to reclaim her handiwork.
The only produced screenplay by the late San Diego-based experimental fiction writer Michael Hemmingson, THE WATERMELON keeps the viewer involved, waiting to see what strange things the strange personalities will do next. (Hemmingson claims in the DVD commentary that some of the characters and even some of the events were directly inspired by real life.) The use of ancient Greek names for the dramatis personae was apparently just for the hell of it; there's not much in the way of mythical resonances in the story. The generally unknown (to most of us) performers bring a blank-slate quality to the film, and they're good enough one wonders why there aren't seen more frequently in film and television nowadays.(Hemmingson's credited cameo as "Waiter" apparently is on the cutting-room floor.)
The comedy is of the sort that provokes constant smiles rather than continual guffawing-- not quite Bill Forsyth-level, but almost. If you have a taste for that sort of humor, track this one down and check it out.
The only produced screenplay by the late San Diego-based experimental fiction writer Michael Hemmingson, THE WATERMELON keeps the viewer involved, waiting to see what strange things the strange personalities will do next. (Hemmingson claims in the DVD commentary that some of the characters and even some of the events were directly inspired by real life.) The use of ancient Greek names for the dramatis personae was apparently just for the hell of it; there's not much in the way of mythical resonances in the story. The generally unknown (to most of us) performers bring a blank-slate quality to the film, and they're good enough one wonders why there aren't seen more frequently in film and television nowadays.(Hemmingson's credited cameo as "Waiter" apparently is on the cutting-room floor.)
The comedy is of the sort that provokes constant smiles rather than continual guffawing-- not quite Bill Forsyth-level, but almost. If you have a taste for that sort of humor, track this one down and check it out.