2/12/2010

Richard von Busack's Review

VON BUSACK: “There’s an acuteness to this home-brewed movie that contrasts nicely with the sheepishness of Morty. Although he is not mean, this shambling boy-man possesses a wily streak. He shows off a humiliating yet really clever method of dodging a bill that was a new one on me, and I didn’t think I could learn any new ones. One thing I like about the year 2010 is that it’s potentially a heyday for the kind of movies that celebrate what Leslie Fielder called ‘The Bum as American Cultural Hero.’ The mainspring-free life—demonstrated so memorably by Morty—is perfect for an economy that has let so many millions know that their services will no longer be needed.”

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Reactions:

"An existential nautilus shell wound as tightly as it is loose."
--Sara Schieron, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

"HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE functions as a seeming farewell to a place where the vistas aren't as large as they might be."
--Richard von Busack, METRO SILICON VALLEY

"Deft portrait of morally decaying figures surrounded by that same urban decay in the rundown South."
--Sam Ippolito, PITTSBURGH INDIE MOVIE EXAMINER

"Whaley has launched a counter-movement [...] that now just needs a catchy name to spread like wildfire."
--Brian Darr, HELL ON FRISCO BAY

HIOP On Twitter:
Director's Statement:

What is it about financial poverty that so often impoverishes the inner lives of those who suffer from it? Does the relationship even operate in this fashion, or does emotional poverty precede—even serve as a primary cause of, in some cases—the pecuniary variety? ... [This] is a private story whose movements could only be written by one man holding one camera.

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On Limitation:

Don’t get me wrong; I love Chattanooga. ... I have learned to make large things from small nothings. My resolve has been permanently strengthened. I have been taught to know what I want and to aim only for that[.]

»Read more...
Director's Bio:

Jarrod Whaley is a Chattanooga, TN filmmaker who has, to this point, worked primarily with digital video. Whaley graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a double-major B.A. in English and French. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Shaking Ray Levi Society, a non-profit arts organization which has been bringing non-traditional creative work (such as improvised music, video, film, and performance arts) to Chattanooga, TN and elsewhere for over 20 years. In 2005, Whaley was one of several individuals appointed to the Chattanooga Film Commission by Mayor Ron Littlefield.