Deprivation (2002)
I thought while I was watching “Deprivation”
that the reason I hated it was because it had an annoying
antagonist who just likes to stir up shit. But then
I thought about a film that I saw called “Group” that
also had an antagonistic character provided merely
to stir the shit and I’d liked that film. It wasn’t
the character of the antagonist that made me hate
the film. It was the others, the characters that the
antagonist interacted with the made such a film irritating.
In “Group” the antagonist is a punk
girl who is challenging the more normal characters
to open their minds and to think differently. In “Deprivation,”
the antagonist is there simply, seemingly, to annoy
normal people who don’t deserve it. He picks on a
black girl, a gay guy and the protagonist, a milquetoast,
impudent college drop-out who really doesn’t bother
anyone.
The antagonist, Thomas (Jeremy Davidson),
is simply confrontational, vulgar and brash. He seems
to have little reason to be this way. We are asked
to believe, somewhat, that this is simply how he has
always been. It’s no accident that the diametrically
opposed characters here are supposedly old friends
from school. Their relationship has been retarded
to the point of becoming childish and ridiculous.
Set in NYC and filmed in DV, the
piece is really low-budg. But this again isn’t what
makes the film worthless. The film is a character
study and it revolves around its characters nicely
with tight, dizzying, cinema-verite (read that: herky
jerky) camera moves. The spaces are confined and just
claustrophobic enough to work. One scene set in a
small hotel room provides ample tension but little
justification for its continuing evolution. (Why would
these people continue to allow this guy to invade
their personal space?)
For a while we can tolerate the
film because we like the people other than the protagonist
so much. They are like us. And after a while scripter
and director Jesse Scolaro even gives the antagonist
a reason for his behavior. It appears, for a brief
moment, that the film might even work on some level.
But then, in its final reel, it
dips into the realm of unrealistic bullshit. The antagonist
undertakes a criminal act that is both ridiculous
and unbelievable. The protagonist’s reactions to this
act are equally implausible. And the resolution of
the film is so enigmatic as to be ludicrous, rendering
the whole film pointless.
In the end, it’s called “Deprivation”
because the audience is deprived of a genuine story,
realistic characters and a true cinematic experience.
Note:
Starring Neil Driscoll Jr. who actually
looks like Gabe Kaplan, Jr.
Viewed in Austin in March 2003
at the SXSW Film Festival.
