The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010) User Reviews

Genre-crossing with rich music infusion

[reallyfastjc · 7/10 · 27 April 2010]

Just caught this film earlier today at the Tribeca Film Festival.

This film tells the story of an adolescent (who's age is never mentioned, or so I believe) and his growing pains.

The director chose to tell the story in fragments and never going in chronological order (think Pulp Fiction or Memento), yet revealing just the perfect bits of information at the perfect moments. We are shown certain characters, such as the kid's psychiatrist, and then revealed more in-depth secrets to their relationship later on. These moments of revelation make you think differently of the entire story, but in a positive way. Also, we are shown scenes were we think this is true to the story, only to later find out they were figments of the protagonist's imagination. Sometimes these imaginary scenes leave you confused as to what is true and what is not, and that is where the story becomes blurry.

As to film technique, there is a great deal of different genres in music to go accordingly with the different aspects of film making techniques used. There are surreal moments a-la "Easy Riders" that are accompanied by a hard-rock track. And then there solemn car scenes with slow Mexican ballads. The choice of soundtrack perfectly fit the movie. The director does have a history of good music videos! The story is somewhat jangled, but it is a good one. The movie is a bit like a roller coaster with its exciting and nail-biting buildups and loops, to the calmer straightaways.

This is a definitely worth the watch, and I'm yearning to see where the director goes from here.

"The depravation of not finding what one wants, leads man into madness."

[evifil · 9/10 · 9 June 2021]

Sometimes there tends to be a scene in films that I like (in fact they tend to be my favourite films), or maybe a sequence, or a line, where perhaps before, you were overwhelmed or confused with the character, you weren't quite sure who he is, what his desires are, or what exactly the world is that you're seeing. But in that scene everything starts to make sense, and it almost feels like an epiphany. I tend to call it the core of a film. And after that, you stop thinking and you are completely in the moment.

In The Sentimental Engine Slayer it's the scene where the main character fantasizes about the blonde woman that he sees at a party. A scene that probably would sound cheap and ugly out of context, manages to be so filled with sensuality that it has been playing in my head for days after watching it.

They look at each other and he meets her in the bathroom, and they don't exchange a single word,when he starts kissing her everywhere but on her lips.

Her neck, her calves, her feet. In his deepest most personal fantasy, he kisses her and she never kisses him back; his deepest desire to show affection rather than take pleasure.

In a film that has been accused of being just nonsense for the sake of nonsense, a scene like that, and by extension writing like that, doesn't only manage to get you out of your head, by defying your expectations, it also has the potential to make you fall in love with its characters.

"Everything I have seen no longer exists and never will. It escapes without a trace, without light or sound."

This is a film that celebrates moments, for all their fleeting nature. And in doing that it inspires you to do the same. Therein lies its real strength, and it should not be underestimated.