Everything Strange and New (2009)

Director:

Frazer Bradshaw

Writer:

Frazer Bradshaw (screenplay)

Stars:

Rigo Chacon Jr., Beth Lisick, Jerry McDaniel

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Rigo Chacon Jr.	...	Leo
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beth Lisick	...	Reneé
Jerry McDaniel	...	Wayne
Luis Saguar	...	Manny
Diana Tenes	...	Manny's Wife

Storyline

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Oakland, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucky Hat Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Love Makes Fools of Us All"
Written by Dan Weir
Performed by Orphan Town

User Reviews

Glass is almost always half empty for angst-ridden, pseudo-blue collar worker in existential stupor

If you are in your twenties and are currently looking at life from the perspective of the glass being half empty, then you will probably like 'Everything Strange and New'. For older folks such as myself, this slow-paced, virtually plot less tale of an angst-ridden pseudo-blue collar worker will not impress you at all. The writer/director is Frazer Bradshaw. Mr. Bradshaw has 41 titles as a cinematographer and 4 as a writer (3 shorts and this one lone feature), listed on IMDb. Judging by the kind of story he's come up here with 'Strange', I feel certain that the film industry will be better served if he opts to continue in his career as a cinematographer, instead of as a screenwriter.

It's a bit difficult to describe what happens in 'Everything Strange and New'. The protagonist is Wayne who lives in Oakland, California and works as a carpenter. Wayne is married to Beth and they have two small children. Bradshaw overly relies on narration to flesh out his character. We learn that Wayne is disillusioned as he concludes that marriage isn't what it's cracked up to be. There's an early scene where Wayne argues with his wife about whether his friend Leo should have visited his wife when she was in the hospital. Wayne takes the position that Leo didn't have the time to visit the wife since it could have placed his job in jeopardy. Beth feels Leo should have been there with his wife no matter what. This argument is about the biggest dramatic moment between husband and wife in the entire film.

Much of the rest of the film is taken up with utterly pointless shots of traffic and buildings as Wayne is heard in voice overs, bitching about his unexciting sex life and his general lack of contentment. Interspersed are snatches of weird Phillip Glass-like music as well as glimpses of Wayne with makeup covering his face as a birthday clown (the meaning of which escapes me). Wayne has two buddies that he does interact with: there's Manny, who upsets Wayne a bit after he catches him doing cocaine inside his car and the friend alluded to before, drinking buddy Leo, who ends up giving a disinterested Wayne, oral sex.

Believe it or not, the film's big climax doesn't even happen on screen. Wayne ends up receiving a phone call informing him of the death of a friend (I will not reveal who it is or the circumstances) and this causes him to finally emote. The moral I suppose, is that it takes a shattering event to finally wake up those who have been merely sleep-walking through life, in some kind of existential stupor.

While the lack of any substantial plot reversals and over reliance on narration to flesh out a character is to be expected from a first-time feature writer, I found that the crude language, constantly emanating from the mouth of the main character, to be highly off-putting. Even those who have a penchant for indie dramas may find this turgid, meandering narrative, below their minimal standards of acceptable indie fare.