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| Dane DeHaan |
Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified.
THIS WEEK:
Chronicle (2012)
- Alternative To -
Project Almanac (2015)
There is something alluring about the found footage genre. While it has slowly become a dying trend thanks to millions of bad stories incorporated into lackluster, low budgeted films, there's a few times when it becomes something more inspired. Last year saw Willow Creek tear apart the model in new and interesting ways. However, it was greatly ignored and this weekend's Project Almanac doesn't look to be doing the genre any favors. In fact, few January films really look to be doing any business in this particular time against the likes of the controversial American Sniper.
Still, what if I were to say that there was a great found footage film that focused on bratty teenagers, sci-fi and a lot of cameras? Then you get Chronicle, which was somewhat of a sleeper hit upon its release a few years back. Lead by Dane DeHaan and Michael K. Jordan, it was a film that managed to explore what happens when you mix superhero mythos with teenage angst. The results were at times both comical and disturbing.
Still, what separates the film from all of the other titles that attempt to find new ground in a lost cause of a genre is that it was at its core a solid story with ingenuity in its camera work. Since the characters had levitation powers, the camera wasn't grounded to a singular location. It got to work as a rotating device that got everything from aerial to sweeping shots of unthinkable areas. True, the found footage aspect becomes questionable in the third act, but the rest is a phenomenal look into what this genre can do beyond incoherently film a series of ideas and lazily edit around the rest.
Still, what if I were to say that there was a great found footage film that focused on bratty teenagers, sci-fi and a lot of cameras? Then you get Chronicle, which was somewhat of a sleeper hit upon its release a few years back. Lead by Dane DeHaan and Michael K. Jordan, it was a film that managed to explore what happens when you mix superhero mythos with teenage angst. The results were at times both comical and disturbing.
Still, what separates the film from all of the other titles that attempt to find new ground in a lost cause of a genre is that it was at its core a solid story with ingenuity in its camera work. Since the characters had levitation powers, the camera wasn't grounded to a singular location. It got to work as a rotating device that got everything from aerial to sweeping shots of unthinkable areas. True, the found footage aspect becomes questionable in the third act, but the rest is a phenomenal look into what this genre can do beyond incoherently film a series of ideas and lazily edit around the rest.
The film is very aware of what it's trying to do. With a script by Max Landis that features the bratty charm that you'd expect from the son of a legend, it is a film that excels in being about a conflicting series of relationships. It not only reinvents the found footage genre, but also adds new dynamics to the teen angst and superhero genres that haven't really been explored. The whole vibe is low key and while not following found footage rule #1 (cast unknowns), they have done some ingenious casting.
Most of all, the film doesn't outstay its welcome. It rarely lingers on moments for too long and instead keeps going at a rapid pace through a series of events that tie together a cohesive narrative about one man's growing depression and what that means when he's given power. While it's hard to really spoil the movie, it is one that is best experienced on its own without too much reveals. It may not necessarily restore faith entirely in the genre, but it will remind you why it was interesting in ways that Project X doesn't really allow it to be.
Maybe Project Almanac will be something more than we're giving it credit for. However, it doesn't really do much in the trailers to distinguish itself as something worth watching. Maybe it will work in establishing a strange premise that we haven't seen before. However, the one rule that these teenage found footage films don't recognize is that you have to challenge more than one genre to do something interesting. Chronicle did that and managed to stand out as a result. It isn't that found footage movies are inherently bad. It's just that nobody wants to do anything interesting with them.
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