Clean, Shaven (1993)
7/10
Scary... Sad... Moving...
19 May 2000
A scary, sad and terribly depressing movie. All of the performances are extremely true-to-life. The only thing I felt hurt this movie was the pacing, which was irregular at certain points. The camera work was very unusual.

If you've ever wanted a glimpse inside the head of a schizophrenic (which I doubt), this is the film. This movie dares to deal with subject matter that Hollywood would normally never touch. It is not an entertaining film and is extremely difficult to watch, but everything that happened in the movie could easily happen in "real life." There is nothing phony here, nothing pretensive, just an incredibly realistic portrayal of the pain of everyday life, and especially the pain of one young schizophrenic man.

I gave this movie 7/10 for its pacing and somewhat weak plot, yet in a sense it deserves a much higher rating. I gave it 7/10 because I didn't enjoy it... yet it was difficult to tear my eyes away at times. The last 30 minutes of the film are the best... the pacing improves, and the story is at last resolved. I breathed a sigh of relief when this movie ended. This kind of gritty realism is just too hard to watch, but its uncompromising honesty is worthy of a great deal of credit. Painful and difficult to watch, but if you like a film that is utterly honest and doesn't play with your emotions, I recommend you see it. Not for the faint of heart, though.
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