Gardner is one of my favorite directors. Battery and Spring are wonderful films.
I picked up a copy of Tex from Youtube (odd distribution model discussed in other reviews) .... and was hooked.
I "get" that in many ways this is a pure vanity project. But, if you have the talent, and you can deliver the goods, why not? Gardner has the talent. First, he set out to make what I call the "Holy Grail" of film -- one man acting as writer, actor and director locked in closet with a camera who successfully produces a decent film. Can it be done? Gardner did not use a closet, he used the outdoors --- and, in my view, he pulled it off.
Funny! Just to be clear, prior to watching Tex, I was watching Lewis Black's latest special, Black to the Future, and found that Black was becoming less funny from special to special. I did not even watch to the end.
Was the problem the performer or the audience? Was I losing my sense of humor? Turns out my sense of humor is just fine, thank you. As Tex picks up steam, I found I was laughing aloud more often. By the time we get to the 1:07 mark -- where Tex tells the camera that he may be having a stroke because his eye is blinking uncontrollably and trying to send him a message in Morse Code, not knowing that he himself does not understand Morse Code -- I am on the floor.
Just after that bit Tex, clearly depressed, gives us a quick lesson on the best way to shoot yourself in the head with a gun after you have been lost in the forest for more than two months and have clearly lost your mind.
Beware the haters.
This kind of film, ironically, does to the artist much the same thing that happens to the character (Tex) out in the wild. It leaves him exposed and vulnerable. Basically, Gardner knows that you know what he is attempting, and he is using every ounce of talent he has to keep you entertained and engaged.
I say this project works, and Gardner is still very much a genius. Pound for pound, and scene for scene, I found Tex funnier than Borat (2006) which was an international hit and launched Baron Cohen into the stratosphere.
Don't look a gift horse (or baby bear, or woodpecker) in the mouth.
Highly recommended.
