If I had known Alex Karpovsky’s new film was going to be showing at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival I would have made a bigger stink about trying to convince people to go watch it. I first discovered him at the 2005 MSPIFF where he was presenting his debut feature film, The Hole Story. It was the only film I was able to get to that year and I was bloody thankful that it was well worth it. A hybrid of documentary and mockumentary film making, The Hole Story blew me away with its innovative style and unique voice. Three long years later I finally had a chance to watch Karpovsky’s second film, Woodpecker, and came away quite assured that he was a fabulous filmmaker just waiting to break out.

But while Woodpecker was a hybrid film similar to The Hole Story, Karpovsky’s next film, Trust Us, This Is All Made Up is a straight documentary. Though its subjects, comedians TJ Jagodowksi and David Pasquesi are anything but ordinary subjects. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with Karpovsky’s newest film, but it didn’t take long for him to reveal that he was attempting something quite daring for what would otherwise appear to be a standard concert film.

Starting off in split screen, the camera follows Jagodowksi and Pasquesi as they prepare for their evening performance. They prefer to wander the streets of New York and watch people as they gradually reconnect. You see they only perform in Chicago and New York, and with their varied careers they don’t have the time to constantly travel and do comedy together. Merely every few weeks they get together and perform for an audience. They don’t know what show they will perform, for they are improv comics. They simply meet, connect and find the show they will perform as they are standing on stage in front of the audience. It is truly an amazing thing to watch.

In this particular show Jagodowksi and Pasquesi create seven different characters, then over the course of the hour jump back and forth between them, each of them playing every character at some point during the show. It is a dazzling spectacle and a marvel to watch. That it is also uproariously funny seems like an extra added bonus.

The performance portion of the documentary is heightened by the fantastic camera work. Jagodowksi and Pasquesi were apprehensive about the show being filmed, as previous efforts were unquestionably unsuccessful, so Karpovsky uses “duck blinds” to hide the cameras from the audience. This allows the audience to remain unaware of what is going on and thus not have their reactions manipulated by the camera’s presence. But even though the cameras are hidden, Karpovsky manages to perfectly capture the performances, and with the tight closeups he drags the viewer into what has become the best seat in the house.

But while the concert portion of the film is fabulous, it is the scenes that bookend it that truly make the film. While the early scenes display how well these two work together, and lays out their peculiar, but fascinating, philosophy of improvisational comedy, their seems to be a slight disconnect during the initial scenes, as if the presence of the camera is causing them to “act” ore then simply be themselves.

In contrast the final scene shows them as they have just finished their set and are back in the green room. It is a short scene and almost a blip in the grand scope of the film, but those few moments are incredibly telling. They analyze their performances, each critiquing any miscues or gaffs that might have occurred, often being far harder on themselves then their partner. But with each question or doubt the other quickly examines and encourages the other, offering logic and reason to how this performance worked. It becomes clear why these two work so well together, it is the drive to become better at their craft as well as nurture their partner along the way. It is subtle but there is genuine love and tenderness, for in these short moments these two men forget about the cameras and finally let their guard down. And that is when the magic happens.

Official Site

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Features, Independent Indies, Movies, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.