Scalene

"Scalene" is a decent, crafty thriller, and I applaud its ambition to give its audience something psychologically complex to chew on. But it's also a case of a director not being up to the challenge he poses himself, and the result is a film that frustrates its audience, not because of its intentional ambiguity, but because it's at times downright confusing.

Margo Martindale plays a woman taking care of her mentally handicapped son. She enlists the help of a college student as a part-time caregiver. When the student begins to suspect that the son is being abused by the mother, she takes matters into her own hands and does something appalling in an attempt to protect him from further harm. The gimmick of the story is that it's told through three different perspectives -- the mother, the son and the caregiver -- each perspective in turn using a different chronology. The mother's story is told to us backwards, the caregiver's linearly, and the son's in a mixed up stew that is supposed to mirror his mental processes. The director has been on these message boards (or at least someone claiming to be the director) defending his film against charges that it's intentionally ambiguous. According to him, it's not ambiguous at all, and he points to the middle section of the movie, the part told through the son's point of view, as containing the key that makes the rest of the movie fall into place. After watching the film once and being a bit befuddled, I re-watched that middle section, and it does in fact bring some clarity to the film. But a better director could have helped his audience understand things on one viewing without sacrificing any of his artistic integrity. When re-watching a film gives you a greater appreciation for it, that's the sign of a well-made movie. When re-watching it simply clarifies some points that were too obscure to understand the first time through, that's poor story telling.

But "Scalene" does have a lot to recommend it, and it is thought provoking in its own modest way.

Grade: B+

I do not agree with a lot of the criticism, especially criticising the acting. Hannah Hall was absolutely superb and convincing just as she was brilliant in Forest Gump. My only criticism is the very ending! It leaves us in limbo, not knowing which version of the story is what really happened? The mother's version? Or the carer's version? Perhaps this is what the director had in mind. Leaving us in limbo.

I was invited to a screening of this movie by a friend, and when I heard I was going to be seeing a low budget, independent film I did everything short of feign illness to get out of having to attend. On the way to the theater my mind filled with images of ridiculous drive-in fare and late, late, late night monster movies of the sort where you can see the zipper on the creature where the "actor" climbs inside, along with a multitude of other cringe-worthy scenes that come to mind when someone says "low-budget". Bottom line, I expected everything to be horrible. What I got instead with Scalene was a taut, heart-wrenching character study with such a degree of emotional impact that I was left still shaken the following day.

The story is told from three people's perspectives, and as can be expected each of their individual stories fills in gaps left vacant by the others'. This isn't the first time I've seen multiple perspectives in a movie, but as far as I can recall it's the first time I've seen three separate perspectives told in such singularly distinct ways. The lead actress, Margo Martindale, is simply marvelous. Her name might not be familiar to you, but you'll recognize her from everything from Dexter to Million Dollar Baby. The movie also stars Hanna Hall, the girl who played young Jenny from Forrest Gump, and my goodness has she ever grown up. The actor, Adam Scarimbolo, who plays the mentally handicapped son as described in the IMDb synopsis, (I'm not giving anything further away), I recognized from the movie A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. His character in Scalene is unable to speak, yet even with no dialogue his performance is breath-taking.

Back to the issue of this being a low-budget movie. There was nothing cheap or unprofessional about anything in this movie, contrary to what I had expected. I noticed on the IMDb page that Scalene was made with $150,000. I don't know anything about the business of making movies, but I had previously thought that movies cost tens of millions to make. Most seem to. Knowing now that quality has very little to do with the budget I wonder, unless there are lots of expensive special effects, where does the money go for big-budget movies except into people's pockets? I could not recommend this movie more, not only because it shattered every stereotype I had previously held about low-budget, independent films, but because it is a first rate movie with a truly captivating story.

I saw this film at the private screening this past weekend in Indianapolis and left the theater sure that I had just seen what will be one of the best films of 2011. Scalene is the third film by director Zack Parker, though it clearly marks his entry into a whole new caliber of filmmaking. Inexchange (2006) and Quench (2007) were good films, but they were films nonetheless of a director still honing his craft. Scalene, however, is a film that after having seen, people will ask themselves, "why haven't I heard of this guy before?" It epitomizes the very best of what independent film can and should be. This was a low-budget film, but there is nothing about the production that would lead anyone to believe that it didn't have millions of dollars at its disposal. A higher budget would have only meant more expensive actors and crew, but certainly not better. In many ways this is a difficult time for independent filmmakers. The majority of films that now premiere at independent festivals have A-list stars attached to them which attracts audiences and money to the festivals, but makes it more difficult for first-rate productions, like this one, to receive the recognition and exposure they deserve. Often low-budget films don't interest the larger movie-going public because they expect that perhaps the professionalism of the production will be at a level below which they can appreciate or tolerate. Often this is the case. However, I challenge anyone to see this particular film and not come out of the theater with a new-found appreciation of what can be accomplished with relatively little money, but a whole lot of talent.

This Rashomon rip-off does alright with its first two stories, but falls on its ass with the third. Paige's story is so completely ridiculous, so far from the realm of reality, that it embarrasses the rest of the film to be a part of it. The movie does a pretty good job of manipulating emotions until then, but when the turn happens, everything becomes stupid, unbelievable, and ridiculous.

This is not a thriller, it's like a Lifetime movie that attempts to tug at your heartstrings but absolutely fails in the execution. You may experience the first 20 minutes of the film and be impressed, but it throws away all its credibility shortly after.