Shiner

Shiner, directed by Christian Calson, centers around three "couples" and their relationships with obsession and violence. Pretty good start as far as I'm concerned. Interesting. The couples break down into a heterosexual couple, two heterosexual male friends and a straight guy being "harmlessly" stalked by a gay man.

The "het" couple really don't have much of a role in the film. There are some scenes that show how they like to be aggressive when having sex or playing around with each other, but seem to have no real purpose since the are so marginalized. My assumption is that they represent a more day to day illustration of how sex/violence are integrated in a couples life. The couple aren't very aggressive and it's not even shot in any kind of erotic way. As characters, they don't add much to the theme or plot.

The two male friends make up the bulk of the plot. They engage in some gay bashing of sorts by convincing a homosexual man to have sex with them in an alley. This escalates into violence. And the violence changes them. It becomes a means of sexual gratification. And their need for violence t release grows as the film progresses. The main problem I had is the violence is not convincing. Never once does it seem that any of the characters is in any real danger. It just doesn't work. Given that the whole theme of the film is about the characters' relationships with violence, this is a major problem. Unfortunately, the make-up doesn't help either. Sometimes, it's okay, other times it is very bad. In one scene, I really wondered why one of the characters had rouge smeared on his face. Confusing.

The more interesting pair of the characters is the "stalker couple." Here Calson seemed to have more to say and was able to develop a more coherent storyline. Perhaps it is because the characters seem to develop more and have resolution at the end. Shiner may well have been much better if it had stuck with these two.

I appreciate that Calson wanted to achieve a lot with this film. It is admirable. Most low budget flicks don't aspire to much. I don't think Calson achieved want he was aiming for. Myself, I found nothing particularly controversial or unsettling. Shiner was unconvincing. This doesn't mean, however, that the director can't achieve something with his next film.

He seems to have something to say.

I liked this screwed up little movie. This movie is like those movies that you don't get but you kind of want to watch. Female Trouble is the one that comes to mind. It's messed up and the people aren't always good actors and the plot is all over the place but you like it for some reason. I saw the other film by this guy, it's called Flirting with Anthony, and I really liked that one more. Shiner is kind of a movie that you want to watch when you're a little drunk or messed up. It's hard to follow at time because the sound is iffy but I actually thought the picture was great. The commentary is great and I don't know why there's no commentary on Flirting With Anthony. I think the guys on here being really critical are probably themselves bad directors. I was in a film class and these guys would slam all these awesome films and then I checked out some of their dvds and their movies sucked. Those guys would totally talk about how bad the camera-work was or whatnot. Shut up is all I have to say. No one cares what you have to say anyway. I'd say if you're the kind of person who likes to see two guys going at it in white wifebeaters and rough each other up, man are you in for a good movie.

I saw this film last year and would like to comment on the plot and the acting. Although the subject matter was extensively grim, I enjoyed the depiction of raw emotion, both in terms of the graphic physical and sexual imagery as well as in terms of emotion. As a highly successful director I would especially like to note Seth Harrington (Reg's) performance as exceptional. His performance was raw and powerful as well as profound. Unfortunately, I don't believe Harrington received adequate recognition for his performance. I hope he continues to pursue his interest in the performing arts and film, as I think he shows great potential. Good luck Seth Harrington, I am sure you will eventually obtain the praise you rightly deserve.

I liked this movie a lot more than other reviews led me to expect to. I think many of the defects others saw were done intentionally by the director in order to shake the audience out of the complacency we all tend to enter into automatically when we watch a movie.

We have seen so many movies that we cannot help expecting certain conventions of plot, characterization and style; when we do not find those conventions, we think we have seen a bad movie. While Shiner is no great masterpiece, it is far from the garbage many others said it is.

It is disorienting, often disturbing, sometimes disarmingly erotic, and certainly very much unlike any other movie any of us have EVER seen. The acting is consistently strong, surprisingly strong, very much better than the deceptively amateurish production would seem to inspire.

The many unfavorable reviews show that the director has succeeded in one of his goals: to shake up his audience. Some people hate being shaken like that, but I love it.

I've seen "Shiner" about 8 times, including on the big screen in NYC. I was absolutely thrilled to be presented with a work that did not seek to condescend to merely "entertain" me. I was exposed to a unique world that lived by rules I did not understand & (thank God) the film did not waste time feeding me small, easy-to-swallow narrative that neatly explained what I should be feeling and why I should be feeling it. IF ALL YOU WANT FROM A FILM IS TO ESCAPE YOUR DULL LIFE FOR TWO HOURS, BEST STAY AWAY. If you need a clear-cut hero's journey to take you by the hand and lead you down a much-traveled road with special effects, a good guy & bad guys & funny moments that indicate they are funny by mad-cap gesticulation, you will not "get" this. If you need a film that makes you feel "good", there's plenty of other stuff for you at the video store.

As for me and those of you who appreciate a work where you truly have no idea what will happen next, that stimulates you without seeking to manipulate you with some political agenda, or that dares to exist, true-to-itself without apology & without catering to mainstream tastes (i.e. ART), then you're in luck. "Shiner" falls into this category.

It is proof that in quiet, dark ways, true, artistic cinema, long overshadowed by the business of sure-fire hits & their copycats, exists.