Let's not sweat over the rat-race and focus on life's beauty. (By smoking pot if it helps.)

Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2006)

MY STANDARDIZED MOVIE REVIEW RUBRIC (03/20/06 VERSION) I. CONTENT (OUT OF 6 POSSIBLE STARS PLUS BONUS): 5.5 A. PHILOSOPHICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPTH --- LEVEL OF THOUGHTFULNESS OF THE MOVIE; PHILOSOPHICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION, CLARITY, IMPORTANCE AND IMPLICATION; 0 STARS: "LOW-BROW MOVIE"; 2 STAR: "MIDDLE BROW MOVIE"; 4 STARS: "HIGH-BROW MOVIE" --- (OUT OF 4 POSSIBLE STARS): 3.5 COMMENTS: Many of us work long hours trying to be successful and win the rat race. But in the end we are all losers. Homeless on the streets will rot and be eaten by worms the same as Bill Gates who achieved net worth of 50 billion by age 50. (And oh yeah any of his Bill Gates philanthropic deeds will be utterly forgotten in thousands or million years, if there would be any human left to remember).
So what can save us from despair ? God ? I don't think so. There is not much meaning in living in heaven for all eternity and worshiping God. So let's forget about life's meaning or our purpose in life and focus on Life's Esthetics.
What is esthetical? Anything can be if one wants it to be! The "psycho" boy from the movie found garbage bag as esthetical, he also found out the smiling bloody corpse of a "looser" as esthetically appealing. Well yeah, he's psycho, "normal" people would find big tits and lips as esthetically appealing instead. But are the cells of those big tits more esthetical than the cells of breast cancer cells?. Are the molecules of big lips more esthetical than the molecules of a decaying corpse ? If one wants they can found beauty in everything. Since our lives are short let's not sweat over the rat-race and focus on life's beauty (by smoking pot if it helps).
Let's not sweat over the rat race and focus on life's beauty (by smoking pot if it helps).
B. ORIGINALITY --- LEVEL THE MOVIE IS NON-FORMULAIC, NON-CLICHÉ WITH ORIGINAL ENDING & SCREENPLAY --- (OUT OF 2 POSSIBLE STAR): 1.5 COMMENTS: While it has it's cliché moments, and the ending in not the most original, as a whole the movie is highly original in its structure and content.
* BONUS FOR DARING TO DEAL WITH CONTROVERSIAL/UNPOPULAR/TOUCHY TOPICS (UP TO 1 ADDITIONAL STARS): 0.5 COMMENTS: Relationship between adults and high-schoolers are often perceived as pedophilic.
II. PRODUCTION (OUT OF 4 POSSIBLE STARS PLUS BONUS): 4 C. ACTORS' PERFORMANCE --- LEVEL TO WHICH ACTORS GET INSIDE THEIR CHARACTER AND CREATE EFFECTIVE PLAY --- (OUT OF 2 POSSIBLE STARS): 2 COMMENTS: A powerful play. Especially by the bigoted father and his son.
D. TECHNICAL QUALITY --- LEVEL OF EFFECTIVENESS OF AUDIO/VISUALS; APPROPRIATE LENGTH OF THE MOVIE ETC... --- (OUT OF 2 POSSIBLE STARS): 2 COMMENTS: Interesting shots of camera shots. Intriguing beginning shot. I love the ending song.
*BONUS FOR DARING TO CREATE A MOVIE ON A LOW BUDGET (0.5 ADDITIONAL STARS FOR MOVIES UNDER HALF MILLION DOLLARS, 0.25 ADDITIONAL STARS FOR MOVIES UNDER ONE MILLION DOLLARS) TOTAL STAR RATING: 9.5 (approximated to 10 stars for IMDb.com) MY BALANCED MPAA RATING (NOT BIASED IN FAVOR OF VIOLENCE AND AGAINST SEXUALITY) - G: NO VIOLENCE, NO SEXUALITY; PG: OK SLIGHT VIOLENCE, OK SLIGHT SEXUALITY; PG-13: OK MODERATE VIOLENCE, OK MODERATE SEXUALITY; R: OK EXPLICIT VIOLENCE, OK EXPLICIT SEXUALITY; NC-17 OK EXTREME VIOLENCE; OK EXTREME SEXUALITY - : PG-13 for moderate sexuality and violence.