 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
JIGSAW
Produced, Edited, Written, and Directed by Don Adams and Harry James Picardi
Director of Photography - Carlo BesasieColin - Barret Walz
Tawny - Aimee Bravo
Val - Mia Zifkin
Eddie - Arthur Simone
Louise - Maren Lindow
Todd - James PalmerNext to the Full Moon horror formula, which I won't go into since I've done so with practically every title I've reviewed from the company, my biggest criticism has always been the characterization, more specifically the generically broad characterization designed to cover all of the demographic spectrum: the brooding goth, the prudish princess, the slutty bitch, the lonely smartass, the solemn hero, and the token ethnic kid. Add The Professor and Mary Ann and we've got a hit show that'll test through the roof....
Never would a group that diverse contain a single friend. In the real world, people belonging to such radically different cliques don't venture very far from the heard. The jocks tease the goths, and in turn the goths tease the metal heads. It's the social order the things. It's just the way schools work, accept it.
What makes JIGSAW work is how well the characters are written. Writer-Directors Don Adams and Harry James Picardi do their best to work with the basic characters types and infuse some sense of depth. While some characters get backstory and others get arcs, they all possess deep seeded secrets and fears. The differences between three-dimensional characters and formulaic archetypes stems from the contradictions revealed through those very same secrets and fears. They provide internal motivation, and depending on how well the writers do their job, those underlying elements can also allow the dialogue to serve the characters and not merely the plot.
My hats off to Adams and Picardi, the dialogue in JIGSAW rings with the sound of truth. Or at least the truth as I know it. There were two sorts of people I knew in college, the artsy kids, and my friends the slackers. Both groups had very distinctive vocal patterns and word choices, especially when in a group setting. There are things people would say to impress everyone, or put everyone at ease, that would sound so totally bogus I would want to vomit on contact, but came from a place sincerely requiring acceptance. Listening to the dialogue brought back memories of my college days, and I could even match up certain exact phrases to people I knew. On the commentary, Don Adams warns that those around him should be careful what they say as one never knows what will make it into one of his scripts. French filmmaker Jean Luc Goddard goes to the malls to listen to teenagers speak, just to capture generational nuances. Any good writer needs to keep their ears open, not every person sounds like us.
With JIGSAW, those previously mentioned fears and secrets are what fuel the plot. In the story, a group of college students are asked to take a section of a mannequin and decorate it. The idea behind the assignment is that the single pieces will be a reflection of the specific artist, but the reassembled mannequin will reflect the class as a whole, the sum of the all the various creative energies. In the case of this particular set of students, all the individual sections represent the darkest elements of the artist's pasts. When recombined, the pent up hostilities breath supernatural life into the amalgamated creation.
The setup is a bit of a stretch, especially in context with the rest of the movie. Why would a class go to a bar and discuss their work as a type of course final is beyond me, but the professor, Colin, is such a predatory character that his thin excuse almost works. In truth, he means to score with at least of one of the three women in his class he believes to be the most willing, and rub it right in the faces of their boyfriends. Barrett Walz, the actor portraying Colin, exudes slime from every pore. The movie could have worked equally as well, if not better, without the Jigsaw creature by just exploring Colin's character and the manipulating elements of his personality. One could almost view his character as the true villain in JIGSAW, the creature is just a side effect.
The DVD presentation of JIGSAW is part of Full Moon's recent trend of pairing up older properties with new releases. Included on this disc is TOTEM, a movie I've yet to watch. The commentary track is actually two separate commentaries spliced together, similar to the Jodie Foster/Anthony Hopkins track on SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. We have Don Adams by himself discussing the conception and production of the movie intercut with what sounds like everyone who worked on the film, from the directing pair on down, just having some fun watching the fruits of their labor. The result can be a little confusing, but it's edited together so that topics do flow...somewhat. There's also a 30 minute production diary and the film's trailer. As a whole, the DVD isn't Full Moon's most attractive package but it does give some nice 2-for-1 affordability.
www.FullMoonPictures.com
www.FullMoonFans.com
Tempe Video