Let Me Make You a Martyr

Intelligent, thoughtful film about people who are depraved or damaged; disturbed or lost; and even some who are innocent. And the various shades their souls are colored in is very much at the core of this film.

That a film grounded in gritty reality is also willing to embrace the surreal is, in these capable hands, neither jarring nor disconcerting. It hints at supernatural elements as any serious film concerned with individuals questioning life and what comes after could be expected to do. Great credit goes to the directors for their reserved and concise visual direction and their securing consistently natural and believable performances from actors playing a range of characters that easily could have slipped into the grotesque or clichéd . There is real intelligence in the writing; the rich dialogue defies the stereotypical expectations of how such rural characters speak and behave, and does so by being so specific in relation to the character's worldviews - and the fact that such lowlifes HAVE worldviews is all too often ignored by screenwriters who only know of life what they have seen in other lesser movies.

That it is refreshing, and engaging, is not to say that it is completely without flaws. Unfortunately it too often feels more a collection of intriguing scenes than a cohesive whole, and in the "clever" cutting between time frames, and character's points of view, we lose a bit of what would allow our emotional connection to such worried and wasted souls to grow beyond mere empathy for their weaknesses and struggles. I also had some technical issues; some photography was way too dark (not moody dark but muddy dark) and there are several sequences where the sound is excessively muted, and even if these are intentional effects they seem so unmotivated, or inconsistently so, that they feel more like mistakes. But these are caveats that keep it from being a great film as opposed to an extremely good one. Most films made these days would be damn lucky to be as solidly crafted

It is also not a movie for everyone; if you only want to focus half your attention on the film it's going to seem dull, boring and confusing. If you are not interested in hearing characters worldviews and think any dialogue that doesn't advance the plot is "too wordy" then you're not going to like it. But for those of us who thrive on intelligent, original and unique films as opposed to recycled, regurgitated mediocrity, films like this are a great relief.

I loved Niko Nicotera and Mark Boone Jr as Ratboy and Bobby Munson on Sons of Anarchy, and have been a Marilyn Manson fan since about 1997, so I was hopeful. Ultimately I wasn't overly impressed with the movie ,or should I say, "film" as a whole, though. It was shot well,in my opinion, but it rambled along and just sort of lost momentum and ran out of gas at the end. It could have been a decent movie with some tweaking on the ending. It wasn't a total failure of a film, but I don't see myself ever watching it again on purpose.

I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Slow, ponderous, and boring. Not even Manson could save this mess.

He movie is about facing your life and death. Facing the "gatekeeper". It is extsestential. The only characters that mattered were the man and interviewer. Manson also represented something, death comes, he is a sort of earthly gatekeeper in a grim way. How will you respond to.the gate keeper when it is your time? With honesty or accolades? Ego? Pride? Will you confess your deepest sins

Got the movie, because i like revenge movies... It is dark, depressing, surrounded by scum bags and drug addicts. That gets really well presented.

But that's it. The acting is sub-par, the voices sound like they are non convinced with the script, and the story ? well, it is described in the synopsis. Nothing new. (and nothing wrong with that)

I feel these flaws basically killed the movie :

• It is filled with long unneeded dialogues. Most of them don't really matter, and skipping them wont affect the movie in the end. - I got annoyed with Slaine/Hondo first... And then i started noticing the same behavior. Everyone take long pauses to deliver lines, without purpose, perhaps trying to give it a hint of suspense. - Cerebral ? Intelligent ? Not a chance. It is a simple movie, you can follow it even half awake. Presenting the story in a non-linear way does not make it intelligent.

I don't have an issue with slow movies. But this one is slow just because. And that bothers me. 30 minutes into the movie i was bored and waiting for it to be over.

I can't recommend this movie. Perhaps if you like to watch a favorite actor, but that's it.

So, summary : Sub-par acting, boring long dialogues, annoyingly slow pace.