With just a cursory glance it would appear that Jared Hess’ career is in decline. After hitting it big with Napoleon Dynamite, his next film, Nacho Libre, struggled to gain a following as it garnered mixed reviews. Their certainly seem to be a certain group of devoted fans, but it had no where near the mainstream appeal of Napoleon Dynamite. Now along comes Gentlemen Broncos, and its stunningly poor 15% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
So when I went to a screening of Gentlemen Broncos I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Napoleon Dynamite had certainly grown on me, but I loved Nacho Libre. Was I just one of those people who simply clicked with Jared Hess? As I sat through the film, quite early on the answer became quite clear, yes I am.
Gentlemen Broncos seals the fact that no one truly gets what being an awkward nerd is like Jared Hess does. His protagonists are strange, uncomfortable and surprisingly sweet. These are naive and gentle characters that know what they like, and understand that that makes them very different from everyone else. And while they might not always be comfortable with that, they accept it.
This is what I thinks makes watching his Hess’ films so difficult for most people. His “nerds” truly are nerds. Not simply some pretty face made ugly with one weird personality trait, but people who just can’t ever make that step to being acceptable to the mainstream. Hess portrays these personalities both accurately and lovingly, and the cool kids hate his films for it. These films don’t just have a facile appreciation for the un-hip, they saturate ever fiber of their being with oddities.
Is Gentlemen Broncos a great film? No, but its filled with sold performances, as well as Sam Rockwell’s second monster performance of the year, and it is wildly entertaining with its spastic and unconventional humor. It’s an incredibly sweet film, filled with awkward moments and subtle humor, and it does a remarkable job of capturing just how awkward teenage passion can be. Sure I’m in the minority, but I have been much of my life, and I am quite comfortable enjoying Gentlemen Broncos while the cool kids go watch something more comfortable.
Fresh off my recent One to Watch on Gentlemen Broncos, word has come down the grapevine that the trailer for the film is set to debut today over at Apple Trailers. The poster was finally released yesterday, and it is solid if seemingly unspectacular, the fact that the marketing machine for this film is finally starting to pickup is only good news.
The trailer is now up over at Apple Trailers. Initial thoughts are this is much different then I was expecting it to be, which isn’t a bad thing. And while Jemaine looks like he’ll be fantastic it looks like Sam Rockwell just might steal the film as a transvestite space warrior.
A movie that seems to have flown somewhat under the radar is the new film from Jared Hess, Gentlemen Broncos. A few teaser featurettes caused a bit of a stir last year, but nothing has shown up since, and with the October release date inching closer, it looks like any day now an official trailer should finally start making the rounds. But in anticipation of that day I thought I would post both of the outstanding teasers, which feature Jemaine Clement as the science fiction novelist Dr Ronald Chevalier.
I’m cheating a bit as I’ve already seen this terrific film. While it is still early, I can already safely say this is my favorite of the year so far, and it has a good chance of being my favorite for the entire year. Yay for hard science fiction masterpieces!
Now I know I should be suggesting people go support Independent film by watching The Class at The Uptown this weekend, but I have to admit I’m not all that excited about the movie. I’ve heard from a wealth of people that it is fabulous and I know I will watch it eventually, but it just isn’t the movie I am excited to see this weekend. No, that movie would be Tom Tykwer’s new film The International. Now I’ve heard from a wealth of people that the film is less than good but I don’t care. I’ve loved nearly every one of his films and at this point in time he is to me a must see director, no matter how awful the reviews or the trailer is.
On DVD the selections are a bit eclectic between the big budget blockbusters being released and the smaller Independent films. While I would avoid the blockbusters, Changeling is worth a watch, even if it is a half hour too long, Flash of Genius looks interesting and for those of you who really have been dying to watch that one movie where Dakota Fanning gets raped and was a big hit at Sundance but never got a decent theatrical release, Hounddog is now on DVD. But my selection this week is Choke, a film based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk and starring Sam Rockwell. I saw it at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival last year in a tiny and packed theater, crammed uncomfortably in the first row that was almost underneath the screen, yet I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Which is saying a lot because I didn’t really enjoy the book at all.
With just a cursory glance it would appear that Jared Hess’ career is in decline. After hitting it big with Napoleon Dynamite, his next film, Nacho Libre, struggled to gain a following as it garnered mixed reviews. Their certainly seem to be a certain group of devoted fans, but it had no where near the mainstream appeal of Napoleon Dynamite. Now along comes Gentlemen Broncos, and its stunningly poor 15% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
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