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DESPAIR
Written, Directed, Photographed, and Produced by Mark BaranowskiChristopher - Mark Baranowski
Yvette - Ryli MorganDESPAIR, from director Mark Baranowski, reminds me of student films turned out by first year film-majors. I'm not referring to the quality of filmmaking, but to the content. There was a professor of mine, Charles Derry, who made a point that there were only a handful of first-year student productions that dealt with themes outside of death and destruction. Derry went on to state that most productions fell into 3 basic plot structures: the kid who mopes in the cemetery, the kid who mopes about his mom, and the kid who mopes just to mope.
That's a whole lot of moping going on.
I was always the happy filmmaker who stood out like a sore thumb. Nothing bothered me, my life was sheltered and suburban. I tried to stay as far from the depressed goth-kids as I could, I wasn't letting anyone bring me down from my pleasurable existence (except for the goth-cuties, they were always fun to spend the night with).
Concepts like anger and despair were far from my mind. Apparently they were far from my gothic contemporaries minds as well. They made films about those subjects, but they never explored those subjects. That's the same problem I have with Mark Baranowski's DESPAIR.
Plotwise, a title like DESPAIR can be about anything. But at its core it needs to examine the emotion, it needs to tell us something about the emotion, not just show a few sad kids going about committing suicide.
Christopher finds his bills mounting and decides he can't deal with it anymore. A few pills later, he's taking the big dirt nap. His wife, Yvette, who can't go on without him, spends the next half hour naked getting ready to swallow a razor blade.
Lost love is always and easy avenue for a filmmaker to venture down, especially when trying to make a horror film. It sets up character, conflict, and a safety zone designed to create emotional connections with the audience. Unless the relationships are explored thoroughly, the end result is powerless. The viewer learns nothing about the journey taken.
What you have in DESPAIR are two depressed people who find a self-inflicted end to their temporary suffering, what's missing from the story are the why's and what's. Why is this story unique? Why is it worth telling? What do we learn about the concept of despair? What is it about despondency and hopelessness that push these people over the edge?
I can't answer those questions and I wish I could. For me, love is too simple and answer.
It's nice to see a filmmaker willing to rise above exploitation and touch upon themes in modern horror that Hollywood holds at bay with the proverbial 10-foot pole, but it also would have been nice to see those themes explored more deeply. DESPAIR doesn't hit home like it should. If Baranowski is willing to add depth to his work, I'm sure he can make something truly moving.