Tin Can

I ended up watching the super disturbing Tin Can on a whim; drawn in by the artwork and thinking it might be a good claustrophobic sci-fi thriller like Meander (2020). Outside of the parrallels of a woman confined to a small area for a period of time, this couldn't be further from the aforementioned film and is an entirely different beast. Canadian director Seth Smith previously made the excellent indie horror The Crescent (2017) and this lines up perfectly with that one. The basic plot has a virologist studying a virus that has threatened humanity. As she is on the cusp of a great discovery, she is knocked unconsicious and wakes up in a isolation "prison" area. Smith stages things with great effect and the layered storytelling resulted in a great payoff for me. No spoilers for what happens as the story unfolds, but I will say it is a slow one that features one of the more messed up storylines I've seen in a while. And, given COVID, it is definitely timely (and shocking to find out this was all made pre-pandemic).

This movie has a funny way of getting into your brain. While the experiences of the characters are not distinctly relatable in the real sense, one can easily get immersed in the circumstance of being trapped, feeling helpless, and having to quickly come to terms with a twisted new reality.

With a body horror bend that is enough to make a seasoned horror vet squirm in their seat, this film is sure to find a home in your mind long after the credits roll.

While there are elements of this film and it's script that have potential, those bits and pieces never come together in any kind of understandable, interesting, or relatable way. It was a relief when the credits started to roll.

I found the idea behind the plague and the canisters interesting. These story elements could have woven a compelling plot. This disease plot device was particularly clever. But in the end, the script is a garbled mess. Cinematography, make-up, and set design had moments of genius. But it in the end fails as a cohesive movie.

Skip this. Not worth your time unless your a film student that wants to see potential poorly executed.

It was not very good. The story was all over the place to the point where I stopped caring about the characters very quickly & never cared again. The production, acting & direction were fine, but the story was terrible.

This was all style and zero substance. What is the point of creating something 104 mins long with a story than could've been told in 5-10 minutes? Yes, we get it, co-writer and director Seth A Smith has a creative imagination, and even with a low budget using rubber tubes, red light bulbs and sheet metal can create visually appealing set pieces, but at least add some substance to the horrendously slow pacing and lack of any narrative in your writing. And for what little narrative there was, it was riddled with plot holes, ridiculous context, unconvincing scenarios, and incoherent, long dragged out scenes. Even the dialogue was infantile and gave no reason to care about the characters or there scenarios. There is nothing substantial to hold a viewers attention fort more than 5 minutes at a time, where you'll get bored, and fast-forward to the next long, boring and dragged out scene. Repeat for 104 minutes, with no reward throughout nor at the end. This may have been watchable as a short film, but watching paint dry is more exciting than sitting through this shallow empty story. It's a generous 3/10 from me, all for the decent score and cinematography.