State's Evidence is not a perfect movie: the audio is out of sync, the movie switches between hand-held and steady cams when it is presented in a shattered time-line, and the edited bits from the story were deeply needed to complete a link for the extremes some characters experience. Despite this, State's Evidence is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It's political, truly entertaining, disturbing, and a beautiful look in the psychology of teenagers.
The movie is led by an intelligent young man, Scott, who decides that he is going to commit suicide. He very calmly explains to the audience that he's going to film his day so that others may understand him, and that the psychologists reviewing the tape would have material to work with in forming theories about his state of mind.
This well spoken boy then discovers the power of no consequences, giving him a boost of confidence. Since he's going to die, there could be no punishment. Without the fear of death, he is free to do whatever he wants. While trying to explain to his eclectic group of friends his plan and the freedom he feels, he inadvertently gives them all the idea to join him.
Suddenly, the movie blossoms from a single POV narrative to a series of strung together stories from this small group of close friends. This is also where my biggest gripe comes from.
The movie takes off from when they're given the cameras. The crew, at 4 Pm in the film room at their school, are editing the footage together from the various cameras (we know this from the occasional voice over and the way the footage cuts into each other's stories at times). However, the confusing camera (steady cam, hand-held) shifts still occur as though the story is being told linear. I cannot express how distracting this was. If they had left the entire middle portion the hand-held camera POV, and then finished up the finale with the steadycam, it would have come off more professional.
As for the tales themselves, they are not perfect and, unfortunately, half of them are incomplete.
Brian and Rick are tag-along characters. These two are about as shallow as characters come. Their actors, from what you see of them, are barely passable as high school kids. We are led to believe that they are just as serious about killing themselves as the other four, but in real life, they'd be the guys backing out first.
Trudi and Sandy are the female logic/emotion coupling in the story. Trudi is a deeply complex girl who hides her real self behind a typical Gothic charade. She pretends like nothing bothers her when, in fact, she hates her whole life (and for very good reason). Sandy, however, a generic sweet girl who discovers a raging politician buried beneath the shallow layers of a girl who is defined as only being in the group because of her "puppylove" crush on Scott.
Both girls flesh out to be deeper characters with deeper purposes behind their suicides. Unfortunately, Sandy, a more interesting character, gets shafted as she stumbles on her purpose and isn't allowed time to clarify.
Finally, we have the emotion to versus Scott's logic, Patrick. Even though he was given a camera to share with Brian, Patrick winds up with his own separate film that's been spliced into the footage of the other character's. While they are about self discover and awakening, maturing and admitting their faults, Patrick's is about a darker side to self discovery.
The characters do learn their life lessons. They do develop (except for Brian and Rick), and they do finish of their stories with a second discovery, and that's how they deal with life after all they've learned.
The finale is a bit of a let down. Since the beginning, you've known things would spiral out of control. Patrick's maniac story left a bloody pink elephant standing in every scene he graced that nobody could ignore. Once Patrick gets control of the realm of storytelling, however, there is a sparkling gem in this otherwise lackluster ending... the final dialog of both Patrick and Scott.
Patrick spins a monologue about human beings that is the dark side to Scott's philosophy. When Scott is given his piece as well, he finally admits the reason behind his decision to kill himself. His dialog has deeply lacked emotional input, as he is a man of the mind; his final words in the film dig up that buried emotion and tell us who the man behind the mind really is.
This movie is definitely a must see.
The movie is led by an intelligent young man, Scott, who decides that he is going to commit suicide. He very calmly explains to the audience that he's going to film his day so that others may understand him, and that the psychologists reviewing the tape would have material to work with in forming theories about his state of mind.
This well spoken boy then discovers the power of no consequences, giving him a boost of confidence. Since he's going to die, there could be no punishment. Without the fear of death, he is free to do whatever he wants. While trying to explain to his eclectic group of friends his plan and the freedom he feels, he inadvertently gives them all the idea to join him.
Suddenly, the movie blossoms from a single POV narrative to a series of strung together stories from this small group of close friends. This is also where my biggest gripe comes from.
The movie takes off from when they're given the cameras. The crew, at 4 Pm in the film room at their school, are editing the footage together from the various cameras (we know this from the occasional voice over and the way the footage cuts into each other's stories at times). However, the confusing camera (steady cam, hand-held) shifts still occur as though the story is being told linear. I cannot express how distracting this was. If they had left the entire middle portion the hand-held camera POV, and then finished up the finale with the steadycam, it would have come off more professional.
As for the tales themselves, they are not perfect and, unfortunately, half of them are incomplete.
Brian and Rick are tag-along characters. These two are about as shallow as characters come. Their actors, from what you see of them, are barely passable as high school kids. We are led to believe that they are just as serious about killing themselves as the other four, but in real life, they'd be the guys backing out first.
Trudi and Sandy are the female logic/emotion coupling in the story. Trudi is a deeply complex girl who hides her real self behind a typical Gothic charade. She pretends like nothing bothers her when, in fact, she hates her whole life (and for very good reason). Sandy, however, a generic sweet girl who discovers a raging politician buried beneath the shallow layers of a girl who is defined as only being in the group because of her "puppylove" crush on Scott.
Both girls flesh out to be deeper characters with deeper purposes behind their suicides. Unfortunately, Sandy, a more interesting character, gets shafted as she stumbles on her purpose and isn't allowed time to clarify.
Finally, we have the emotion to versus Scott's logic, Patrick. Even though he was given a camera to share with Brian, Patrick winds up with his own separate film that's been spliced into the footage of the other character's. While they are about self discover and awakening, maturing and admitting their faults, Patrick's is about a darker side to self discovery.
The characters do learn their life lessons. They do develop (except for Brian and Rick), and they do finish of their stories with a second discovery, and that's how they deal with life after all they've learned.
The finale is a bit of a let down. Since the beginning, you've known things would spiral out of control. Patrick's maniac story left a bloody pink elephant standing in every scene he graced that nobody could ignore. Once Patrick gets control of the realm of storytelling, however, there is a sparkling gem in this otherwise lackluster ending... the final dialog of both Patrick and Scott.
Patrick spins a monologue about human beings that is the dark side to Scott's philosophy. When Scott is given his piece as well, he finally admits the reason behind his decision to kill himself. His dialog has deeply lacked emotional input, as he is a man of the mind; his final words in the film dig up that buried emotion and tell us who the man behind the mind really is.
This movie is definitely a must see.