Fantasia 2015 Review: MEATHEAD GOES HOG WILD Falls Off The Bone
The easiest thing to say about the film is that its an underground version of Falling Down that takes place in both good and bad neighborhoods of Chicago. Led by co-writer/co-director Cline, the cast is built from mostly non-actors, but in an outsider piece like this, that's often essential to what makes the film work.
Cline plays an angry white man without much ambition, but who wants to do good. However, this isn't quite a slacktivist piece; his soul is slipping into the ether. The most touching part of the film is at the beginning, when his character says goodbye to his sick dog and best friend. Unable to spend more time with her because he must work, he sets off for his very bad, no-good day. If the directors had continued on with the dying dog path, they may have had Sundance-worthy content. However, this film's intention was not to head to Sundance, but Fantasia, where the weird is welcomed with open arms.
A successful Kickstarter campaign raised $6,206 of the campaign's $6K goal. While I don't know the complete budget of this film, it wouldn't surprise me if the film was made for as little as that, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. As an underground work, its likely that guerilla filmmaking was involved, and it's amazing what you can do with a camera, some friends, and a lot of passion.
But back to the plot. The character, listed as "Lead Role" on IMDb, gets into an altercation with a stranger, fired from his job, and no one delivers his sandwiches from Grub Hub. He gets increasingly upset until he shaves his head and returns to the butcher shop where he was formerly employed. Promptly, he steals all the meat, eats a lot of it, and sets out on a mission to give the rest of it away as a gesture to be good to the community.
This is where things get bad. While most people he comes across are suspicious of his meat-giving ways, some take the meat, and later on, he gets robbed, not only of his Santa bag of meat, but of his phone and wallet. The thing is, he met a girl and was planning on going on a date, but without his phone, he can't find true love. This sends him into a spiral of rage, desperation, madness, and murder. And there are duels. Yes, traditional gun duels. Both the character and the film devolve as the night dies and dawn rises.
Meathead holds up a mirror to urban decay and to the hopelessness, individuals, and neighborhoods that most people would rather forget exist. Some edits would help move the pace along, but I'm not so sure the filmmakers want to spare us from the pain --- which is exactly why films like this are made.
Meathead Goes Hog Wild
Director(s)
- Kevin Cline
- Zach Harris
- Sean Pierce
Writer(s)
- Kevin Cline
- Zach Harris
- Sean Pierce
Cast
- Nicholia Q. Aguirre
- Aquila Anderson
- Vahan Artin
- Sable Bedlam
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