“I’m unfit. I’m unsound.”
Written and Directed by: Colin Bemis
Cast: Aidan Bristow, Nicholas Urda, Andres Montejo
Swift shot: From the moment this film starts, you are never sure what to expect. Yet somehow it becomes unpredictably, predictable. You can see all the pieces moving towards an inevitable conclusion, but there are certain scenes that come out of nowhere.
If you have ever wanted to see a documentary about an active killer, Strawberry Flavored Plastic is probably as close as you can get to that experience legally speaking.
As it turns out the filmmakers, Errol (Urda) and Ellis (Montejo) initially thought they were doing a documentary about a man who had killed people in the past but was released for good behavior. That isn’t true. In fact, Noel (Bristow) is a psychopath who has an affinity for cars, classic films, and talking like a demented Captain America at times.
There are easy comparisons to American Psycho, but where that movie was mostly a pretentious overrated mess, Bemis delivers an earnest, believable found footage suspense film that has an eerie, earthy quality to it.
That is indeed due to the fantastic performance by Bristow, who isn’t even an American. I detected no accent, and honestly thought this was just some local New York actor friend of Bemis’ that he was fortunate enough to cast in his movie.
The oddly titled film has that feel to it, with the handheld shots, the first-person camera footage, and the feeling that these are real people you might encounter in our world.
In fact, that is what should make it chilling whenever Noel lashes out. Sadly, a lot of these episodes of Noel’s happen off-camera. Again, that gives it the real world feel, where the best shit is always missed. The frustration of filming, I guess?
I wouldn’t call this a horror film, as I have seen others call it, because I never really felt horrified by Noel. Maybe that says more about me than I care to admit. But his mouthy dialog got to be a little annoying. He is one of these people who just loves the sound of his own voice, and he loves telling you his deep philosophies about life. Granted, this is supposed to be a movie where he dissects who he is for the documentary. But, man, it got old rather quickly.
Somehow Noel, the psychotic murderer draws sympathy, as he describes his compulsion as an unscratchable itch. If you have ever experienced something like that, it can be painful to just ignore.
I myself suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome, and the whole movie I was equating it to that feeling, where I must make my leg move. To anyone who hasn’t experienced that, it sounds ridiculous. Just like Tourette’s. But for Noel, there is no stretching he can do, no drug he can take. When he has the compulsion to violently explode, he has to. And, he does.
Perhaps the best aspect of Strawberry Flavored Plastic is when there’s a catalyst that forces Noel to change his behavior. He finds out something that thrusts him into a new role, one that even he has no easy answers for.
As the film progresses, you see how Errol and Ellis justify their chronicling of a madman. You can see that something bad is heading their way. That’s what I mean by the predictive nature of the movie. You can’t go playing footsie with a demon and expect to come away with all your toes intact.
The major strikes against this movie are the things left open for speculation. There is a lot of trust placed in what Noel is saying, but as the audience we never know for sure. And the ending left me a bit confused and unsatisfied. I don’t mind when a filmmaker leaves the ending open for your imagination, but this ending felt somehow unworthy of the rest of the film’s build-up.
And that leads me to my major strikes with Strawberry Flavored Plastic, if you introduce something into a script, there needs to be a payoff for the audience. I counted about six things that were set-up but had seemingly no conclusion given for why these things were significant.
I will say that I am intrigued with the fate of certain, smaller characters who leave enticing room for a sequel.
If you are into psychological suspense films, this one is an interesting and unique approach to the genre. While it has some flaws, it never bored me, because the Noel character was so unpredictable and even affably humorous at times.
Let me put it this way, imagine a more violent Larry David – he just does what he wants and says what he wants, because he wants to be as real as possible. But unlike the feeble Seinfeld creator, Noel can mess you up!
