9.5/10
The next time I hear someone pining about the lack of originality in current American film, I'm recommending Bellflower. It's a story about two best friends who share an obsession of building a Mad Max-style muscle car to withstand the imagined apocalypse, and this girl Milly who comes into their lives. Saying any more would be spoiling, but trust me, the movie is way more original than I made it sound. Evan Glodell wrote, directed, edited and starred in this, his debut feature, and it's a staggering achievement. The film is shot in a super-dirty, sickly yellow tinged Super 8 style, which adds a lot to the nauseous, uneasy vibe prevalent throughout the film. The acting on the part of the three leads is tremendous, the original score is fantastic, the script and dialogue incredibly sharp and true to life...I can't remember the last time I saw a movie so beautiful, horrifying, hilarious, heart-warming, tragic and stomach-knotting and doing it all so effortlessly. I'll skim half a point because things do get more than a little over the top and the movie doesn't seem quite sure how or when to end itself, but those are pretty minor nitpicks. Definitely a movie that's going to stick in my head for a long time but for which I'll have no desire to revisit anytime soon.
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