My Name Is 'A' by Anonymous (2012) User Reviews

I don't know if I can even use the term "SPOILER" for a review of a film this bad

[contact-74951 · 1/10 · 26 March 2016]

I tried to give less than a star, but I can't. I keep wondering if I've seen a film worse than this. I've seen some terrible work at tiny film festivals but at least they were interesting. This is insultingly bad and shallow.

I THINK the filmmakers watched too many Harmony Korine films and thought to themselves, "that looks easy, we'll do it like that". Clearly it is not.

SPOILERS. Not sure if that's possible for such a bad film: This film manages to be BOTH so clichéd that it drips with predictability and yet also so unclear that at times you wonder what the hell is going on. We seem to have four characters and despite every trope imaginable being used to signify we're in the characters' heads, we still have no understanding of the them. So then I thought AHA! it's actually all one character split into four actors! Which would explain why they all seem to be being abused by their fathers, why they all self harm in exactly the same way and why suddenly halfway through and without consultation, they all decide to become Kiss fans. Two of the girls even have completely different accents to their fathers, which was particularly confusing- have they just found each other after years of being estranged? Did the mothers die suddenly or something? And actually, why are there no mothers? Is the film making a point about motherlessness, or are they just too cheap to get another actress? This is basic stuff.

OK, so it turns out I was right- it is four aspects to her personality. So then why are they SO similar? What's the point? Even Herman's Head understood the point of splitting the personalities is to have them be different and usually contradictory personalities. I'm not a huge fan of people taking a true story and then making up 90% of what they show, and this has done it by taking clichés and not even bothering to explore them properly. The real Alyssa had an interesting back story and exploring that- depression, suicide attempts, absent father in jail, teen mom, would maybe have given us some insight. Instead, the filmmakers turned to page 1 of the daytime TV backstory guide and gave her bulimia and a sexually abusive father- and then reveled in these scenes for much longer than was necessary, to the point of being exploitative.

The film feels like the filmmakers have watched lots of teenage girls but never actually spoken to one. I gained less insight into the protagonist, Alyssa, from this film than I did from just reading a Wikipedia article. I learned as much about Alyssa as I imagine a teacher in her school who never actually had her in a class, or a distant aunt may know.

The film also isn't sure what it's trying to say- whether it's trying to guide us to possible reasons why she did it, or guiding us to the idea that there are no reasons, these things just happen. And yet, it's also not telling us to make up our own mind, because it doesn't give us any exploration. On the one hand the camera and editing style seem to be trying to tell us that this is real, intimate and observational, but on the other hand, everything is so stagey- with characters going into direct to camera monologues- that it completely undermines the shooting style and it just feels so fake and cheap. So you don't get to watch meaning emerge from observing characters slowly develop OR from a stylistic delving into the psyche. Both modes fail. It feels like one minute the film is whispering, so you move forwards to hear it and then it's shouting, and you end up hearing nothing at all.

I don't think the acting was bad, in fact I think a lot of it was very good- but the camera was in the wrong place and had too many fake filters applied or bad camera shake added. The film was so badly directed and edited that the poor actors didn't stand a chance of coming out well, but there are still a few moments that shine.

This DID make me want to watch "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer", "Monster" or "American Psycho"- all films which take very different approaches to covering similar territory. They do it so well it's easy to forget how hard must be to pull it off. If nothing else, this film serves as an excellent reminder of this.

An utter failure and waste of time for all involved.

[TuesdayThe17th · 1/10 · 17 November 2020]

This is a rare movie to find on DVD but I was able to grab it at an underground indie horror and genre film shop near my house in CT. Usually when I buy a movie(which is very often, maybe too often), I watch it within a day or two. However, this movie sat for a couple of years. There has been multiple good wild eye releases even though they are all microbudget films, some with out any budget to even speak of. One of their releases, "Final Entries: The Video Diaries of Maddie O" is another rare film and is, in my opinion, one of the scariest found footage movies ever made. It's cheap, it's grainy, it's bizarre and creepy, it ACTUALLY HAD a story. This is where I say, "My Name is A" is beeeyond terrible. Could possibly be the single worst film I've ever seen. I started watching it last night but turned it off after 33mins, only to resume it this morning just to see how it played out because the actual case this movie is built around is quite interesting and very disturbing. The movie doesn't even relate to the actual crime AT ALL. The movie tries to portray this corny vision of wasted youth or urban decay but falls flat on its face within minutes of the film's start. The story doesn't do the crime justice. There is no narrative to speak of, as the movie ATTEMPTS to be some kind of cheap version of "Gummo" but instead comes off idiotic, immature, and poorly conceived. At least in "Gummo" we were engaged. There was scenes tying the film together as a whole unit even with the glimpses into random characters lives. This movie has too many characters that aren't explained. By the end of the film we realize these girls are all damaged in their own way and living out their own personal hells but it's too little too late. In real life the murder was committed by one girl, Alyssa Bustamante, yet the movie shows her as a side character if you will. Some butt ugly anorexic girl gets the most screen time but who even is this girl? A family member? A friend? Some random nasty chick? I've seen some real bad movies but it's rare to never that I stop a film due to its awfulness. The last one was the after dark horror fest movie "Unearthed" which was equally awful in a different way. There is no explaining here, no flow, and no story what so ever. This movie did not do the actual case justice as this movie seems too nasty and amateur. This story should be done by someone with actual talent. Someone who actually knows how the case really went down. It should play out in traditional movie format with aerial shots of a shanty town and drone shots of the deep wooded area where the murder took place. There should be more dialogue and dialogue that makes sense for that matter. Ultimately, this IS a rare movie so if you find it for a dollar or two, pick it up, just to own it. However, I would not recommend watching it as it is a total waste of time. Let it sit and rot on your shelf where it belongs. Shane Ryan is an awful director with no future.

This is R for Review

[jack_woods40 · 15 March 2022]

In all I found the premise was reprehensible and the execution of it was really amateurish and wouldn't recommend it to be frank - if you want to learn of Olten's untimely fate then watch a documentary, this my friends is not the way to learn.

(Borrowed) style over content.

[maxwellsnake24 · 3/10 · 2 August 2022]

From its clumsy,pretentious title to its attempts to combine John cassavetes cinema verite shooting style with a Jim van bebber esque trash aesthetic, Shane Ryan reid 's 2012 low budget movie based on real events is definitely an exercise in trying way to hard. Dialogue is delivered with zero conviction by the young and inexperienced cast and the murder aside, the movie has no real direction, Thanks to a seemingly non existent screenplay. Resembling more a promising film student effort than a fully fledged professional production thanks to its numerous technical and creative setbacks, those interested in the bustamante case would be best served by the countless news stories available on the web about the case. A few well captured arty shots and the tasteful placement of Moody music will never be a substitute for quality all round movie making.

It's not the story you were expecting for the subject matter

[Emhilradim · 2/10 · 27 May 2023]

When you hear that this film is about the real-life murder committed by Alyssa Bustamante, you'd probably think that the film would center around that event. And you'd be wrong. Instead this movie tries to explore "who is Alyssa Bustamante?" and I'm not sure how much if any of it is accurate.

The weird thing is that the movie has a lot of awkward sequences that seem to be there to pad out the length, and don't seem to in any way service the story. At one point there's a really awkward shower scene, and at the halfway point in the movie we have to watch a music video in what I assume to be Russian?

The real story of Alyssa Bustamante is disturbing on its own, and it would have been better to tell the story of the actual events. The lying, the manipulation. Pretending to help look for her victim, all the while keeping entries in her diary about the thrill she got from it. That would have been good subject matter for a documentary of a murder. Instead we follow a girl with a terminal obsession with Russia.

Honestly, I would recommend to avoid this.

An almost voyeuristic insight into the lives of these people

[Castaneda5053 · 10/10 · 31 March 2020]

This film does a great job of portraying Alyssa as a human again. In This Larry Clask-esque style of film, you get a sense of intruding on these lives while helplessly watching their minds unravel.

Truth to Form

[justinjbrown · 7/10 · 22 March 2014]

My Name is A by Anonymous is a film that deceives you. If you were to only take a quick glance at this work, with it's fluid vérité camera, and frequent cutaway's to confessional video diaries, you might be given to the opinion that the film is amateurish. A failure of both budget and consideration to decency.

You would be wrong.

As the minutes roll on, and the onion layers that wrap any decent work of art unfurl themselves, a different picture begins to emerge. There is something there, deep within, that filmmaker Shane Ryan is attempting to dig out.

This film will be tough for some people to embrace. The heart of it's story is a true tale, the thrill killing of a young girl at the hands of a disturbed teen. These events are not from some distant time, but recent. The wounds are still fresh. Because of that, some might claim that this film is exploitive, and while I can understand that point of view, I will politely disagree.

What it appears Ryan is attempting to do is look beyond the sensational hype that often accompanies tragic events such as these. When you excise the lurid headlines, what you have left is a very human drama.

The film's title, and description suggest that the story is about Alyssa, and the awful decisions she chooses to make. While it is about those things, it is even more so about every young person whoever found themselves wounded, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, in this complex interaction of nature and nurture that we call living.

Ryan elects to tell this story by interweaving vignettes featuring at first Alyssa, and then an ever expanding series of side characters who appear to represent differing facets of the main character's experiences. The presentation is a bit muddled, but that confusion leaves the viewer with the capacity to interpret for themselves what each of these characters represent. It is also equally possible that these side characters are to be taken as more than just metaphorical representations of Alyssa's psyche, that they are in fact real people within the story that conspire to do what they feel they need to do.

Instead of having a clearly demarcated narrative, Ryan chooses instead to paint with emotion. He seems to want you to experience at a visceral level the torment these characters endure. To that end he is quite effective.

If you know anything about the real life events behind this film, you will know how the story ends. This film is careful to not make light of the real life tragedy, but attempts to do it justice on all accounts.

My Name is A by Anonymous is not a feel good movie. It is a brutal, and honest indictment of the very real things that happen behind closed doors in every community, all around the world.

Beautifully Haunting film that forces introspection, with its stark realism, a fantastic offering by Shane Ryan..

[ms-oomen · 9/10 · 20 February 2014]

Where does one even start with a film such as this? I guess the first business at hand is this is not the typical horror film, although it is horrific at points in its own way. This is not a "for fun" film, you wont be popping up some corn and plopping down in your favorite chair and settling in for a good time. Instead you will be drawn into a strange dreamy harsh experience, that will captivate and move you, sometimes in ways you may not like. And one more word to the wise this is not a film that impressionable children need to be around, I was warned and appreciated the heads up once I watched so I extend the same to you. 

Shane Ryans film is loosely based on an actual murder case, involving the death of 9 year old  Elizabeth Olten, at the hands of her neighbor (also a child of 15  when she murdered Elizabeth) Alyssa Bustamante. That being said this  film is not the typical "based on" movie, it doesn't try to follow the the "facts" of the crime per Se, it includes a few points but the film isn't a direct interpretation of the crime itself, more of a slice of life look at the society that may have helped create the situation internally that led to the act.  

The film follows Bustamante and "The Sidekick", as they torment her little brother, video tape themselves in various angry teen-aged moments, including scenes of self mutilation in the form of "cutting". However they are not the only characters we watch. There are a several other key players including "The Angst" and "The Performer". It is at times almost difficult to watch but yet stunningly beautiful all at once. It is a film filled with a sad stark reality of mental illness, cruelty, anorexia, isolation, despair, rape and murder. There are moments when the reality of the film is so gripping its hard not to turn away. on occasion I felt almost as though I was peeking through someones window watching their pained lives unfold, which is a credit to both the acting and the directing of this film. 

Please do not get me wrong, I think this is a BRILLIANT film. It does what it is meant to, it makes you think, it creates a conversation, and it most definitely stays with you.  Shane Ryan creates a beautifully haunting film.  The cinematography is stunning, Shane Ryan finds a sad strange beauty in a very morose macabre subject. Its dreamy, and ethereal, in a nightmare sort of way. The score is absolutely amazing, and lends itself to the very  strong mood to the film.  Whatever budget Mr. Ryan had he used extremely well, as the film looks and feels much more produced than I am sure the budget would suggest. 

This is a film that will haunt you with its realism, if you feel nothing while watching this then someone needs to call 911 because you are dead inside. I highly recommend this film if you are looking for something outside the normal horror genre to watch, or if you are a fan of "arthouse"  films. It truly is a work of ART, a film of macabre beauty, hats off to you Shane Ryan!

Bills Reviews For Short Attention Spans

[bipbop13 · 10/10 · 25 February 2019]

This movie is based on a true story of a teen murdering a preteen. It's depressing, horrid, terrifying and terrific. I hope the director has more up his sleeve that are even half this good.

The film starts out with introducing us to seemingly random teens, doing things that teens do that make adults scratch their heads in wonder. We have a pair of girls who are almost constantly filming themselves while doing everything. Being bored, touching an electric fence with their little brother, arguing, and preening. And wrist cutting. Yes, these girls are so randomly bored that it seems even that the most painful things that they do to themselves have no effect on them, except to record it to their camera and social media accounts.

The next teen we're introduced to is bulimic, and we find this out in a most disgusting way. She has a father who, it is implied, likes to rape his daughter, and she is stuck in the situation as we learn that her mother has long since left the relationship,probably due to her husbands disgusting lifestyle.

Lastly we meet a girl who dreams of being a singer. She is very talented, and is already quite a good painter. She is friends with a young girl probably half her age, and we see them hanging out together playing, and eating at a restaurant. The teen though, seems to have a questionable father too. We feel that she is trapped in her existence as well, hoping for something better to come along.

These story-lines remain separate through the first hour of the movie, almost telling a non-linear story. But slowly, very slowly, you start to realize that all of these teens have something in common, and even though you have a clue of what it might be, you've given in to your emotional investment, and you're hoping that you might be wrong about the conclusion of the film that you haven't even seen yet. The hints are slow in coming, and you are horrified and infuriated at the same time. You know the end of the story, but you want to know the how's and the why's.

The music in the film is amazing, and pulls the narrative along as there are some long stretches without dialog. There are no character names in the film, but you actually don't need any. You start remembering them by their traits, and that's all you need to move the story forward. The director gets great performances from all of his cast, and at some points you feel that the actors are actually doing the film themselves. There are some great styles of filming as well. We get some black and white, still shots, full frame and a webcam look.

This movie describes teen angst and boredom very well. I can remember some of the feelings myself. And what I can't remember, I have a teen of my own that I can identify some of the characters actions with. The long weekend and summer days with nothing at all to do. The identity crisis, and most of all, the peer pressure. The wanting to fit in so bad, that you're willing to do just about anything for anyone to prove it. The director masters all of these emotions in the film, and pulls the viewer into caring for most of these characters even though we have an idea that they are going to do something terrible.

By far the most saddening and horrifying thing about the film, and the director nails it head on, is how every hope and dream you've had up to this point in your life, every bad situation you're hoping to get out of, and every piece of your soul that you hope to gain back with adulthood, can be shattered and lost forever in one split second act. A decision you'll never come back or recover from. Ever.

This film will haunt you. Find it.

It's so close to real life. Now watching

[phuongqb900 · 8/10 · 10 June 2015]

If you've seen director Shane Ryan's earlier work then you'll know what you're in for, and also see how he expands his origins of handling found footage films. If you haven't seen his earlier stuff and are expecting some mainstream crime thriller or a Lifetime show, then you'll either be greatly disappointed with its hard-hitting realism, or pleasantly surprised (while also being left enormously depressed).

Keep in mind, Ryan's work will never have a laughing moment, or a time when it seems like things "might be okay." They start off seriously ill, and the sickness only worsens until it eats away your entire body, mind, and soul. His films are not for the faint-of-heart, but also not for those seeking sex, gore or cheap thrills. There's something very deep and meaningful underlying all of this. He never glamorizes murder, but seems oddly fascinated by its evil. So fascinated, in fact, that everything always feels so very real. In a sense where you feel part of this may have had to be lived or experienced by the filmmaker. It's so close to real life (without ever feeling like some "Reality" Show) in a way neither Hollywood or even Independent cinema ever seem to capture.

Powerful and disturbing

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 20 October 2014]

Disturbed teenager Alyssa (a strong and credible performance by Katie Marsh) murders nine-year-old girl Elizabeth (adorable Kaliya Skye) for the sheer sick thrill of it. Writer/director Shane Ryan not only astutely pegs the depressing atmosphere of a bleak podunk town, but also vividly captures the nihilism, disaffection, alienation, rootlessness, and aimlessness of these empty no-hoper adolescent lives in which life itself seems to have no real worth or clear purpose. Better yet, Ryan wisely avoids lurid sensationalism and brings a matter of fact nonjudgmental sensibility to the grim premise; instead Ryan merely observes rather than preaches and allows the viewers to make up their own minds what to think about the whole dismal affair. The rambling episodic narrative structure works well in conveying the fractured and unsteady nature of the main characters' topsy-turvy existences. Moreover, there are positively harrowing and heartbreaking contributions from Teona Dolnikova as a forlorn aspiring singer, Alex Damiano as a dejected lass suffering from an eating disorder, and Joseph Marsh as a persecuted little boy. Demi Bauman likewise excels as Alyssa's loopy sidekick. Arturo Gueurrero's striking cinematography alternates between bright lush color and gritty'n'grainy black and white. Kudos are also in order for the spare harmonic score. An exceptionally haunting and potent knockout.

Real and brutal, yet beautifully tragic in fantasy land

[a_marie_p · 10/10 · 11 July 2020]

It's hard to describe this film. Which in this case is a good thing.

It's real, raw, and brutal (and vulgar) in many scenes, more like a silent film or music video in other scenes, and beautiful like a full blown fantasy in others.

Only loosely based on the Alyssa Bustamante murder of Elizabeth Olten, this shouldn't be considered a true story, only an inspiration for a film which digs far deeper into the state of mind than any sensational news headline could imagine doing.