Blackbird, Cold Iron Pictures, Tadmor,
Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Hank (Paul Dano) appears to be on a deserted island and about to hang himself. Hank is very lonely and full of despair. As he’s about to do the deed, he notices a corpse floating out in the water. He changes his mind and sets out to pull in and rescue the corpse, but over time as his relationship with the dead dude, Manny (Daniel Radcliffe), he finds that not only is Manny still able to function, but he has magical powers that help Hank to escape his desperate attempt to return to civilization, especially to finally meet and talk to the girl he often saw on the bus, Sarah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
This film is really, really strange! Now that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and in this case, it’s not anything like realism, but it could have many, many meanings. It’s wide open enough that you can come up with you own theory of whether everything is literal, if it’s a psychotic episode, or if Hank perhaps really succeeded in his attempt to hang himself. That’s all up to you, the viewer to decide. Daniel Radcliffe certainly picks some really strange roles, and this has to be the strangest thing he’s ever done, but it’s got some real comedic moments if you take it all seriously. It’s certainly way out there in the Twilight Zone. I don’t want to spill too much of the happenings as it might be fun for those of you who are fans of the strange, to try to figure out your take on it. Like “The Lobster” [Click Here for Ed’s Review] that was released on DVD not to long ago, this is really off the mainstream by miles and miles. As to the performances, Paul Dano did an excellent job on this movie, but he’s certainly not very likeable. Poor Hank has so many issues and is really screwed up, that’s for sure, no matter how you take it. And Radcliffe’s performance as I alluded to before is very strange, but he’s playing a talking (and farting) dead body, so what is there to judge it with? All I can say is that I didn’t really get it, and found it rather annoying in a lot of ways, but I certainly didn’t hate it either. I would not go out seeking this movie, as it is certainly an odd way to spend an hour or so, but if you do have a chance to see it, and you like very out of the ordinary subjects, then you just might like it. I can see where some people would think this a masterpiece (I don’t) but on the other hand, I can just as easy see fights erupting over what it all means, which may simply means totally nothing at all. Approach at your own risk!
Note: This is the studio’s Red Band or R Rated trailer:
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
