'The Collapsed' is movie where nothing of very interesting substance occurs for the first seventy or so minutes out of an eighty-two minute run time. That is truly a shame because I enjoyed John Fantasia's performance as a father and husband who seemed to be more than he appeared. I also (mistakenly) thought that the slow burn - indeed never ending burn - was some kind of intelligent setup design for a powerful payoff at the end.
Essentially, a family of four must survive the collapse of society - that is the gist of the plot. In order to do that, Fantasia's character leads his wife, daughter and son out of their native city on a journey to reach his second son's home in a place the movie makes you suspect is a remote rural location.
The four main actors get somewhere, experience hardships, there are deaths and tragedies, but the plot/director treats each loss or speed bump as such a minor affair that the viewer can only nod at a character's demise and assume something more interesting is waiting to be seen in a later act. For a relatively short film, 'The Collapsed' is very slow paced making it seem like a two hour time investment.
Again, very little happens and as a consequence, very little tension is built and what suspense does arise is quickly expended by highly annoying music and scenes that end in nonsensical dead ends.
The viewer of this film must be patient - willing to watch an actor run around with a bolt action rifle, pointing it at nothing, cleaning it and charging it again and again - for over an hour. Simply nothing happens that hints or eludes to what the film is really about until the last few minutes. By that point I was both bored, mentally numb, and my leg had fallen asleep.
Truly I did want to positively review this one, I was rooting for it to become something interesting throughout my viewing of the film. If nothing else, perhaps John Fantasia's performance will catch the eye of someone at a large studio and he'll get a shot in front of a wider audience.
I cannot recommend 'The Collapsed' to anyone really - unless you're a fan of Mr. Fantasia - and even then it'd be a hard sell. The plot ends up being a common enough one and in an attempt to make it work, the film lies to you with scenes that did not really happen. I've never liked nor approved of such devices in books and movies, they feel too much like a sucker punch in the reader or viewer's gut.
Steer clear of this one, unless you're incredibly bored or patient or you're scouting for undiscovered talent.
Essentially, a family of four must survive the collapse of society - that is the gist of the plot. In order to do that, Fantasia's character leads his wife, daughter and son out of their native city on a journey to reach his second son's home in a place the movie makes you suspect is a remote rural location.
The four main actors get somewhere, experience hardships, there are deaths and tragedies, but the plot/director treats each loss or speed bump as such a minor affair that the viewer can only nod at a character's demise and assume something more interesting is waiting to be seen in a later act. For a relatively short film, 'The Collapsed' is very slow paced making it seem like a two hour time investment.
Again, very little happens and as a consequence, very little tension is built and what suspense does arise is quickly expended by highly annoying music and scenes that end in nonsensical dead ends.
The viewer of this film must be patient - willing to watch an actor run around with a bolt action rifle, pointing it at nothing, cleaning it and charging it again and again - for over an hour. Simply nothing happens that hints or eludes to what the film is really about until the last few minutes. By that point I was both bored, mentally numb, and my leg had fallen asleep.
Truly I did want to positively review this one, I was rooting for it to become something interesting throughout my viewing of the film. If nothing else, perhaps John Fantasia's performance will catch the eye of someone at a large studio and he'll get a shot in front of a wider audience.
I cannot recommend 'The Collapsed' to anyone really - unless you're a fan of Mr. Fantasia - and even then it'd be a hard sell. The plot ends up being a common enough one and in an attempt to make it work, the film lies to you with scenes that did not really happen. I've never liked nor approved of such devices in books and movies, they feel too much like a sucker punch in the reader or viewer's gut.
Steer clear of this one, unless you're incredibly bored or patient or you're scouting for undiscovered talent.
