Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
rettercritical
A Bret Easton Ellis podcast with Kevin Smith as a guest lead me to a small Canadian film, made by 'kids', folk in their twenties, with handy-cams that may have been one of the biggest jolts of cool fresh air since Breathless. Kevin Smith, who helped distribute the film, dubbed THE DIRTIES "the most important movie you will see all year."You could go two ways explaining this film. A short answer is that the experiment works, while a long answer would go into deconstructionist theory, pastiche, social commentary, adolescent alienation and the availability of modern technology as subject matter. But the first answer is really the best, in that young-folk half-wrote and mostly-improvised a hilarious and thrilling picture in a way only 'da-yoof can.Why do they call it a royal with cheese? 'The f--ing metric system' answers an over-zealous teenage media-class student, dressed in 70s-pimp fur coat, pacing down the corridors of a high school. Their confused homage lacks irony in this film-within-a-film. The two virginal best-friends are plagiarizing and cringe-inducing their way through life. Shooting their own schlock movie, they may have just stumbled upon a genuinely new AND SICK idea, while simultaneously being filmed by a documentary crew..Rather than be mocked for their derivative short films and pushed around by jocks, why don't they take part in a high school shooting and film the whole process? of course, if they only shoot the bullies or 'bad guys', it shouldn't be a problem, should it? Do they mean this literally?I want to come back to my answer that this film works. Shot on real high school locations during school hours as a secret project, THE DIRTIES is a strange mix of being both an experimental and mainstream triumph. Some of the participants are unwittingly being filmed, such as lead-actor and director Matthew Johnson's mother in conversation at home. This 82min film is a two-for-one. The first half is a hilarious, chump slacker comedy and the second half descends into gripping will they/wont they nail-bight-er.. Which will surprise you. But what you also get is this innovative, multi-leveled film within a film ... within a film-thing, which strikes as utterly unique and unpretentious. An oblivious and accessible take on Godard's NUMERO DEUX via the Tarantino generation. Just as intricate as NUMERO DEUX but made on the ground-floor rather than ivory tower, it's an expression of young people's hyper-screen literacy. We, the audience, are regularly taken into the edit suite to view footage, while the devilish-duo play around and manipulate footage. What starts as a brilliant joke builds into something that is no longer funny and things become completely serious. A tonal shift like after the comedic training-montages of full metal jacket.But what these youngsters have pulled off isn't just a fantastically effective film, it's a snapshot of life only young people can make about themselves. In a few years time, their window would have been gone. So it's also filled with finite qualities you can only get from young people brave enough to commit to a project at such a young age. Rather than fall into the traps of web-series or just standard short-films, both inferior formats, director and lead actor Matthew Johnson just went and made a feature regardless of whether it has a commercial home. The gamble paid off. The film had a budget of $10,000 and won best narrative feature at Slamdance. If you want a big kick in the pants about what you are doing with your life and the earth shattering revelation that a masterpiece is just a few brainstorming sessions away - get this one into you like a slushy on a hot day. It really is a tasty burger. Perhaps see it before their soon-to-be-released follow-up film OPERATION AVALANCHE. Shot without permission on real NASA headquarters, a 'found footage' film about how the moon landing was faked.. Highly anticipated.Mike Retter
Jack Munson
The Dirties follows these kids who are making a short film about two kids going into their school and shooting all of the bullies. That's as much as I can say without it flagging me for spoilers. I really love this story. It follows a topic that isn't discussed from this point of view. We always hear about bullying from a third person perspective, but The Dirties puts us right in the middle of it. Also to anyone who loves film and wants to get into the industry, you (including me) will find that these characters are extremely relatable which ends up being really scary and makes the movie memorable.The acting is just as if the kids were going through everyday life. I wouldn't say it was amazing acting, but I definitely felt like the people were their characters. They were probably just playing themselves, so it was pretty interesting.The camera work is in the found footage style, but not in the way that it's annoying, it just feels like you are the camera man documenting them making their short film.The soundtrack has some good songs in it, mostly indie music.The Dirties is an experience. It was fun, relatable, and memorable. The movie is chalk filled with movie references for cinephiles and comedy that makes you laugh. It is a must see just for the topic that it pertains and how it approaches it.
TheFilmGuy1
Wow. This was an amazing film. I have a lot to say about it but I will keep my thoughts concise. The topic of school shootings is obviously a sensitive one, given that it happens too often these days, but I think it's an interesting subject. There's obviously a lot to explore in regards to the people who do it, and this film has an interesting take on it.To start off, it's kind of a different film from other school shooting films like Zero Day or Elephant that have a serious and somber tone throughout. This movies starts off quite funny. I laughed quite a lot. It has kind of a "nerdy high school kids movie" kind of feeling. It also includes lots of references to films, since the main characters are film fans themselves, allowing for captivating scenes such as the final credit sequence that gives nods to other films in a way I won't spoil.The characters are displayed in a quite realistic way. The humour in the beginning makes you bond with them and kind of like them, so when things start to get serious, you care what happens. They aren't shown in a way that seems stereotypical, they just seem like real guys you would know, and maybe even be friends with. That makes it all the more disturbing. As someone who graduated high school last year (at the time of this review), I can relate to the setting of high school, and while I wasn't bullied, nor did I witness bullying on this level, I can still understand how it would happen. The interactions between characters feel like real high school interactions. There are some pretty good performances here.The ending may not be everyones cup of tea, but I think it solidifies the theme of friendship throughout the film. The whole buildup at the end made the tension feel unbearable. I won't spoil that, but I could feel my heart beating and I felt actually nervous about what was going to happen, and when a film can do that, I give is massive credit. I highly recommend this film. (Bonus points cause I think it's Canadian)
Max Shephard
I've seen a couple of school massacre movies, this one may be the best.I don't know if I prefer Elephant because its more artsy.But in terms of story/character development The Dirties is by far one of the greater movies on the subject.This is the only movie in the genre where I felt like the characters really had a personality, and I knew I would never forget them.Also this is the only movie on the subject that I feels has the strongest message. This is one of those rares movies that has something to say, and Kevin Smith didn't hype this movie up, it blew away my expectations at how good it was.
