White Lightnin'

I was very surprised by this film's quality. The directing was very well done. The aesthetic reminded me of a 90's music video, maybe Nirvana.

The edit was expertly put together. There was never a dull moment in this film. The music was layered in nicely and heightened the tension in a good way.

The acting from Edward Hogg left a lot to be desired in my opinion. It's not that he performed badly, it was a good performance of some character, but that character wasn't the embodiment of Jesco White. A Brit shouldn't have been selected for this role. They don't get the inherent hopeful humor even the darkest of us in the USA have. Brits are typically too cynical.

Jesco was way too serious in this film, even as a child. A big part of what makes Jesco cool is his nonchalant attitude. Sure, I think there is part of him that was like Hogg's rendition. I just think the character that Hogg portrayed was two dimensional. There was probably something within him that was frightened by Jesco White to fully embrace his character. In that fear he acted out what scared him of Jesco. His violence, his intensity...but where was his humor? Where was his softer side? Even when he's talking about Cilla he seems more like Charlie Manson than Jesco.

I thought Carrie Fisher did a great job as Cilla. The rest of the cast was excellent too. Even Hogg brought something meaningful to life, but there's a difference between meaning and truth. Meaning is the treatment of a symptom, truth is when many meanings come together leading to pure health.

"I happen to have friends in the "deep south" and their neighbors are moonshiners. Would wake in the morning hearing shotgun blasts, killing wild turkeys? "White Lightnin' puts all the myths of the modern day hillbilly to rest." Hogg is amazing and outrageous at the same time and the cast is strong but the story as cut is just too fragmented for myself to give a slightly better than average review. The film is also too short and I think it needed more narrative to tell the story-line better. Well shot and designed with decent euphoric imagery works like a bad acid trip. Haunting and stays with you equals success for these Filmmakers. Soundtrack is very creative and original, but my only major downer was the too fast, quick cuts editorial. I look forward to this Directors future work for sure! -CSPS-Media

White lightnin' is a work which exudes originality. That first and foremost must be said from this reviewer who is personally tired of the vapid humdrum which is usually churned out by Hollywood on a regular basis. Watching this film, I felt contented that there are still filmmakers out there who display boundary pushing ingenuity in there craft and who are not afraid to disturb the living hell out of you. Dominic Murphy has showed that he is one such director capable of telling you gut wrenching stories without descending into the usual path of incoherence in which so many of these types of films do. White Lightnin' is a film in which the plot never once lost focus of telling the story of the mountain dancing, gas huffing Jesco White. And while the violence, as my previous reviewer noted, is gratuitous and revolting, I never once felt it was incongruous or irrelevant with the story trying to be told. It is also of importance to note that viewing WL is like peering through a window into the destitute "white trash" culture of the poverty-stricken Appalachia. A way of life not assiduously examined through the medium of film. This in part presents the film with a particular boldness that was exhilarating to view.

There is no better summary line than the quote I used from the Guardian! The quote is on the poster of the movie too, along with "rollicking terrifying trip" and "white-trash psychobilly nightmare" both by Vanity Fair, and they fit perfectly. This movie is definitely a trip.

A trip that's worth taking. A movie that you might think is more violent than it actually is. On screen violence is pretty rare, or better put not explicitly. Apart from that, the story of a man (white-trash) is almost linear, but nevertheless confusing and appalling at once.

Bottom line: You'll either love this movie (because it's not only out there, but beyond) or you will hate it, because of it's craziness! I'm not going into story details, just be warned that this isn't for the faint hearted or overly religious. You could say it offends almost everyone it can!

I'm not familiar with the true story of Jesco White. (But I will be soon.) On viewing the film, I was happy with the portrayal of the dark side of life in the backwoods of Appalachia. Not knowing the true story didn't ruin things for me, and I truly enjoyed the film.

But...

If you're going to do a lot of research about Southern Appalachia and try to make the film as true to life as possible, it's unforgivable that Jesse repeatedly refers to one person as "y'all." Y'all is ALWAYS plural, and is only used when talking to more than one person.

For instance:

When Jesse talks to the fat man about his tattoos, he calls the man "y'all." No matter how fat a guy is, he's still one person. Jesse should call him "you."

When Jesse is talking to his dead father in heaven, he actually calls his father "y'all!" Best I can recollect, the man has/had ONE father.

This issue probably does not bother non-natives much, but it made me disrespectful of this director's work. Too bad the chosen film location was in Croatia. There was nobody around to correct this glaring error.

Hope y'all enjoy this here review.