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THE STRANGER
Directed by Christopher Frieri
Written by Diana RienhartThe Stranger - Mark Fucile
The Stranger is a man known by all in his neighborhood, but known intimately by no one.
The Stranger is a man burdened by the world, looking for escape.
The Stranger is a man full of rage, wanting only to find peace.
The Stranger is a man self-aware, willing to let go of his sanity.
THE STRANGER is an experimental narrative film from director Christopher Frieri, whose B-REEL is the most beautiful erotic film I've ever seen. The two works couldn't be any more different. THE STRANGER is dirty, gritty underground filmmaking. It wallows in the grime of the New York underbelly to reveal the dark side of urban oppression and how it effects the white trash mentality. THE STRANGER doesn't place its subject on a pedestal like B-REEL. On the contrary, THE STRANGER dislikes its star as much as the audience does.
Opening with dreams of flowery familial bliss, The Stranger is awakened from slumber only to be informed by his girlfriend that she's pregnant. Perhaps fearing happiness, The Stranger starts to imagine his hands around her throat, cutting her life short. His only hope for escape is his daydreams of solitary tranquility, which slowly become corrupted visions revealing the lengths he will stretch in vain efforts to find inner serenity.
No, this boy ain't right. The Stranger has more issues than National Geographic. He's a misogynist, a sociopath, a delusional schizophrenic, and all around warped nutbad. If there ever was a man who didn't deserve to live, this is he. Mark Fucile plays the character with unrepentant sexual depravity, always fondling himself and telling his girlfriend what he wants to do to her. The understated words spill from this his lips with the vile wretchedness of an overflowing Port-a-Potty. His very speech pattern wanted to make me vomit.
Mark Fucile has a thankless job playing The Stranger. It's the type of role that critics are too afraid to give accolades, but there isn't a viewer out there who will forget his face as he looks at his blood-covered hands after releasing his demons through murder. The sick bastard's depraved mug stays with you longer than anything else in this movie does.
Director Frieri puts the viewer right in The Stranger's head from the start. Once The Stranger is awakened into the stark black and white world of reality, it's easy to understand his longing for his colorful dreamworld. The unfulfilled notion of happiness only reinforces the bleakness of the daily grind. He's a man shaped by his environment. An environment that has bleed him of his very soul and turned him into the sick bastard he is today.
Fans of David Lynch will find THE STANGER interesting. It falls somewhere between BLUE VELVET and ERASERHEAD on the weirdometer, but never distances the audience with dryness or incoherence. It's a compelling case study on why people should stay the hell out of the five burrows. To survive you have to be either tough or sick. This flick is tough and sick.