Security, Colorado

I was drawn into this on the Sundance Channel. If you ever watch Sundance, you won't really think this movie weird. It's shot on a consumer DV camera, as are all Dogme 95 movies, but it tells its story of a young woman's identity crisis well.

Karen has graduated college and has a boyfriend of sorts, Paul. But they are not really happy. Well, Paul is happy as a clam, but Karen obviously feels trapped. Not just by Paul, but by her life, and the transition from college to the rest of her life. The movie follows Karen as she gets a job at a record store and separates from Paul and tries to get some idea of what she wants to do with her life. It's a powerful movie with a powerful ending, and I think it more powerful precisely because of the Dogme 95 and Dada elements.

Sundance's premovie description mentioned Dadaism accurately. That, and the Dogme 95 "vow of chastity" made this movie lots of fun to watch. Not only is the camera handheld, which is a Dogme 95 thing, but the handheld work is often just technically poor, which is part of the dadaesque thing, along with a lot of work close in on the faces of the actors that sets out to be as unflattering as possible. In addition, actress Karen Felber has a really haphazard hair cut that does not do her nice features justice. However, Felber is still wonderful to watch. Sure, she's pretty, in that darkeyed petite girl sorta way, but it's in her mannerisms, the way she carries herself, the way her eyes dart about when she is talking.

Dogme 95 and independent film-making in general often seems to stem from a rebellion against the inauthenticity of Hollywood movies. "Security, Colorado" seems to be no exception, but in intention alone. It's inauthentic in a different way, however.

Although the two lead actors are good, their improvisations are not, which could have been remedied perhaps by rehearsal and fleshing out who these characters are and why. Granted, dialogue in real life is not as eloquent as in mainstream films, but it's not always as direction less as in this movie either, especially between lovers and people trying to express themselves to each other.

The improvisation often feels forced as if the actors are trying to further a discussion whose purpose is unclear. It feels more like actors struggling to find lines rather than actors who have fully placed themselves in their characters reacting naturally. There is a difference between actors not knowing what to say to each other and real people not knowing how to talk to each other, and it shows in this film.

The way it's filmed also detracts from any attempt at making a film that feels authentic and realistic. The camera was hand-held, but the shakiness and movement seems to be more than necessary and exaggerated without any reason that serves the film. The automatic focus feature the camera seems to have had did not help either. There were also jump cuts that did not "jump" chronologically but acted as sutures between takes mid-conversation rather than using a long take approach. These seem to be technical deficiencies that did not add anything to the film itself, and they ultimately disrupted any transparency that could have existed.

And as for being a Dogme 95 film, the director blatantly violated the Vow of Chastity by introducing music during the editing process that does not occur where the film does. Usually this is not the case in the film, but it also shows that the intention of those involved in the film-making was not carried out meticulously enough even in making a Dogme film.

Although it seems like a wholly negative review, the film is not entirely without merit. It's still an interesting film, if just for being different, although flawed. We simply don't get enough information to care about any of the characters or their insecurities enough to really be involved in the film. The lead actress, Karen Felber, does save the film with a good performance. But ultimately the film's attempt at showing the complexities of human emotions and relationships falls short and ends up being a meaningless and superficial exploration of those topics and more of a cinematic exercise.

Karen Felber is gorgeous and should do more films. That's the positive.

On the negative side, this flick is otherwise boring as hell. Not even enough interest in what's depicted to rise to the level of depressing. It's really more of a "project" than a movie.

But I used to work in the real Security, Colorado; in fact that's why I taped this flick off of Sundance Channel in the first place. I must say, however, that if there ever was a movie that summed the place up, it's this one. Security, an unincorporated "community" just south of Colorado Springs, was boring, bordering on depressing. It was so much nothing that it's difficult to describe. This film succeeds in that, not with detail about the place itself, but through communicating a mood. A boring mood. But there was at least one hot chick living in Security. So, Boring + One Cute Chick out of Thousands= Security, Colorado--the movie and the place.

In that sense the film is a success.

But this movie was still ok to watch. It BIG TIME appears to be a DOCUMENTARY at first, until you realize that the camera operator is in the face of the main female actress the ENTIRE TIME. There is no way she would act all crazy if this were a documentary. The best part was when the main actress kept shoplifting CD's from her own store!!

Security, Colorado: Attractive young women in boy hair cut drifts and droops from one scene to the next with nothing on her mind, staring off into space. Why would a person subject herself to this type of idleness in existence? Why did she move there? Was this all about the dullard she chose as her partner? One never senses that they were in-love nor even in-like. Single camera shot after single camera shot after single camera shot of in-your-face bored expressions, no direction. If it weren't for her cds (the only time Karen seems to be able to make a decision) poor Karen would have done herself in a long time ago. I especially disliked the "boyfriend's" up-close, feigned affection and scratch-and-sniff sensitivity.