Movie Blog @ MSPIFF, Day 15: 'Ape'
Young comedian Trevor Newandyke doesn't find much success on stage, or in any area of his life. His only pleasures include listening to his Walkman, watching daytime TV and indulging in pyromania. But Trevor's life changes after meeting a guy manning a roadside fruit stand, dressed as the devil.
Ape is the first feature film by Joel Potrykus, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich. His hometown plays a major character in Ape - the environment in which struggling loser/hero Trevor (Joshua Burge) wanders through (via stedicam) while tossing the random firecracker or Molotov cocktail. Its Trevor's adventures on these city streets that provide the most tension as he hunts for his next handout, or falls victim to his next beating.
Potrykus' work is a strange combination of day-lit dreariness and lightheartedness, showing the protagonist's slow and painful regression while semi-funny jokes and semi-funny people swirl around his doomed life.
It's a hopeless vision of Generation Y, served up with a smile.
Ape plays at St. Anthony Main Theater tonight at 9:50 p.m. and on April 27 at 9:45 p.m.
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Other Highlights: Thursday, April 25
TINY: A Story About Living Small. Documentarians Christopher Smith and Merete Muellern look at the "tiny house" movement - a trend created in response to the rise of "McMansions." (7:30 p.m.; also showing April 27 at 4:10 p.m.)
The Hunt. Danish director Thomas Vinterberg returns with a witch-hunt drama about a schoolteacher (Casino Royale's Mads Mikkelsen) accused of molestation. (9:30 p.m.; also showing April 20 at 7 p.m.)
Beijing Flickers. Young Beijing outcasts, who haven't benefited financially from the city's good fortunes, sulk around town in director Zhang Yuan's look at a lost generation. (4:50 p.m.; also showing April 25 at 9:40 p.m.)
~Steve Swanson
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For the festival schedule, and a complete listing of all the movies being shown, click here. Ticket information is available here.
Throughout the entirety of the 2013 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, we'll be spotlighting one notable movie each day, along with other notable screenings. To see the WCCO Movie Blog's complete coverage on the MSPIFF, click here.
