Anonymous

A daring and sexy film by Todd Verow in which he also stars. He directs himself completely without vanity in so painful to watch scenes of a sad and pathetic character who we feel so much for. It is unlike anything I have scene before in that it is so real, so unlike a movie as we are used to that there is nothing to compare it too. The way the movie is shot, it looks like it was filmed with various surveillance cameras is scary and reminds us just how small all of ours lives have become in this digital age, how removed we are from our beings. Yet somehow there is a longing a romance even, a hope. I can't stop thinking about this movie, and to me that makes it a great film.

Todd Verow has created a niche of films that test the borders of creativity. He shocks, uses his camera (and himself as an actor), and creates stories that come close to the forbidden in cinematic art. Born in Bangor, Maine in 1966 he attended the Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, and the American Film Institute. He has been called a veteran of New Queer Cinema. His films are many and include Vacationland, Frisk, Little Shots of Happiness, The Boy with the Sun in His Eyes, Between Something & Nothing, and the Addiction Trilogy: Little Shots of Happiness, Shucking the Curve, and The Trouble with Perpetual Déjà vu. Together with his creative partner James Derek Dwyer he formed Bangor Films in 1995. In more recent years his numerous productions on digital video and he is hailed by many as the once and future king of DV.

The reader should be informed that this film ANONYMOUS, dating back to 2004, contains full frontal nudity and frank and graphic sexual encounters. If these are problems for the viewer then the film will not appeal. But what makes Verow's work substantial is that his use of nudity and graphic encounters serves the purpose of the story and how it could have been made without it difficult to imagine.

The story is as follows: When Todd (played by director Todd Verow) tires of his steady relationship and uninspired office job in a movie theater, he looks for a way to return to the sexually charged atmosphere of days gone by. Figuring it had worked before, Todd seeks out wanton, anonymous sex online and inside the stalls of public restrooms. Though it serves as a temporary fix, Todd's boyfriend catches him in the act, promptly cuts Todd out of his life, and permanently throws him out of their apartment. Forced to live in his office, Todd's compulsion for anonymous sex continues to grow and threatens to jeopardize his job and his life.

Much of the camera work is dark and choppy and that adds a sense of danger to the film. As the old term 'form follows function' goes so goes this film. It is daring, at times frightening, and at all times fascinating. Todd Verow's work may not be for every viewer, but then not all of modern art is for every connoisseur. It is rank and bold and disturbing and important.

Grady Harp

..as actor, writer, and director -- a triple threat. His exhibitionism and egotism are only exceeded by his lack of charisma and talent. The picture's rhythms are off, the dialogue pretentious and ridiculous, and his voice a horror to listen to. I suppose we're meant to be sympathetic to, or at least care about, his dull, feckless protagonist, but I found it impossible to do so.

It's truly an excruciating experience to sit through this amateurish tripe, although if you're in the middle of a rowdy crowd that hates the movie and doesn't mind saying so (as I was at NY's Two Boots Pioneer last night at 9pm), it can be a bonding, Rocky-Horror-like interactive experience. Last previous one for me was at "Gigli."

Lots of explicit sex in this flick, which is nice--makes it much more realistic when things are covered up. As the manager of a movie theater, Todd Verow (also the director) conveys the boredom of someone who only lives to fornicate, but finds that he has to do repulsive work in order to do what he really wants. Best part of it is that it was filmed on the sly while the director was actually working at a movie theater. The wonders of small digital cameras. Even the scene where his boyfriend beats him up in the theater men's room was filmed in the real theater men's room at the Loew's on Times Square. So everything seemed real. The protagonist gets kicked out of his home, loses his job, lives in a park. It's a morality tale, with a nicely ambiguous ending. Recommended if you like hot sex scenes.

Saw this at a festival about a year ago and was impressed only by the guts it takes to make such a poor quality film. I looked up some of this guy's other work and it looks like he hasn't improved any over the years. I was shocked to see the guy's been at it for this long. At the screening, he looked too old to be doing such amateurish stuff, but who am I to judge? I went to see it. The sex scenes were obviously made to be gritty, but if you watch Indies, it's nothing you haven't seen before. Its description seemed promising, but it didn't deliver in the ways I'd hoped. Like being well made, engaging, and original. After going to festivals for over 10 years, my standards are higher than most, but I just don't want anyone to waste any time on this one.