Drawing Flies (1996)

A young man, with the help of his unsuspecting roommates, hikes through the Canadian wilderness in search of Sasquatch.

Directors:

Matthew Gissing (as Matt Gissing), Malcolm Ingram

Writers:

Malcolm Ingram, Matthew Gissing (as Matt Gissing)

Stars:

Jason Lee, Renée Humphrey, Jason Mewes

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Lee	...	Donner
Renée Humphrey	...	Meg
Jason Mewes	...	Az
Carmen Llywelyn	...	Cassidy (as Carmen Lee)
Martin Brooks	...	Jake
Gloria Ingram	...	Welfare Worker
Kristin Mosier	...	Girl working party door / Additional Bigfoot
Sheryl Brooks	...	Girl working party door
Joey Lauren Adams	...	Hippy Chick (as Lauren Lyle)
Kevin Smith	...	Himself (as Silent Bob)
Chris Pastras	...	Pierre
Brian Pearson	...	Velma hater
Ethan Suplee	...	Ethan (as Willam Black)
Fido	...	Cat at party
Lisa Zimmerman	...	Bartender

Storyline

Donner and his roomates are out of money and about to get evicted from their home. So as a diversion from their situation, he invites them to his father's cabin in the Canadian wilderness. They all go along, but soon learn that there's no cabin - he's really trying to find Sasquatch.

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Plot Keywords:

sasquatch | search | adult diaper | two word title | cult film | 

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Taglines:

A good monster is a terrible thing to waste

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Рисуя полёты

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aaron Gustafson,IndieDVD,Kelly McCarthy

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is one of the two times Kevin Smith has appeared as Silent Bob in a film that's not his. The other was in Scream 3. There have been many debates. Does Kevin Smith really play Silent Bob despite Jason Mewes referring to him as 'John'. Most people believe Smith does play Silent Bob since he is in the same costume as 'Mallrats'

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Quotes

Donner: My day is coming and you just sit there judging me like i'm some fucking maniac. This is huge. This is everything.

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Crazy Credits

Jon Knowles - thieving production assistant

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Alternate Versions

The DVD Features two versions of the film. The normal version and the 'Director's Cut' which is four minutes longer. The DVD Also features deleted scenes which include two longer takes of the guys on the couch talking about what they're going to do, two takes of the Directors as fanboys, and a take of the directors trying to get Jason Mewes to act.

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Connections

Referenced in An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder (2006)

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Soundtracks

Scootin'
Written & Performed by Superconductor

User Reviews

Tedious and meandering journey to nowhere... nowhere interesting anyway.

I suppose one could describe any bad or inept movie as surreal. In many cases you could even build up a solid case.

Here's a start for "Plan 9 From Outer Space" - In dreams the surrounding don't look or feel real. The people talk in strange tones and rhythms that have little resemblance to how people speak. Random images appear and become juxtaposed for no particular reason with other images. Entire scenarios appear out of nowhere and lead to nothing.

The things I said there all could be put to that thesis. All those things are true of both "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and the human dream cycle. Given the time, energy and desire, I could expand that theory into a full blown essay and probably even draw some deep symbolism out of the whole thing.

Does that mean I should start putting my Ed Wood DVDs next to my Luis Buñuel DVDs on the shelf?

I don't think so.

"Drawing Flies" is many things. Genuinely surreal, in any meaningful sense of the word, isn't one of them.

It is confused. It is tedious to sit through.

It's painful to watch the actors put in such a good show with so little material to back them up. Poor Jason Mewes has a part as a pretty non-"Jay" regular guy in this, and does a respectable job with it, all for naught, though, as his character does nothing of note through this piecemeal throwaway.

The cinematography is bland, but could be forgiven considering the budget and inexperience of the directors. Nothing can be said to forgive that editing, though. A monkey with a rusty camping knife and some rubber cement could have done a better job of editing.

As to the story, it switches between misguided sub-soap opera melodrama based around character relationships it never bothers to make clear enough to create empathy for and rather lame attempts to mimic Kevin Smith's humor style. Neither works on its own or as a companion to the other, leaving the movie flailing in the wind with nothing to do.

I wish everyone involved the best, I'm sure they're all groovy cats. I know the cast is. I just don't see any merit to this movie as a work of its own at all. Sloppy.