New Review: Red State

 

Confession time, here, I’m a Kevin Smith fan.  Maybe not Clerks so much, but I liked Dogma, Chasing Amy… hell, I even liked Jersey Girl.  So, when Kevin Smith announced years ago that he wanted to make a horror film about ultra-conservatism entitled Red State, I was on board.  As the years passed, and Smith struggled to find financing for his movie, my ears perked when progress on the film was mentioned, and information on the film seemed unavoidable with his unusual release of the completed movie and the stagecraft that was the auction for the film’s rights at Sundance.  So, is the movie worth the hype?  In a word, yes.

Hormone-driven teens Travis (Michael Angarano), Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) and Jarod (Kyle Gallner) decide to take a trip into the remote town of Cooper’s Dell when one of them hooks up with an older woman on the internet interested in having a little fun with all three boys, provided they drive the distance to the Dell to meet her.  Of course, being randy young men, they do.  Unfortunately for them, the siren whose call they heed is a member of an ultra-conservative church, led by the charismatic Abin Cooper (Michael Parks).  After a couple of spiked beers, the boys wake up, trapped by the members of the church, and slated to be executed for their wickedness.

As the boys attempt to escape, the isolated church draws the eye of ATF Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman), who surrounds the church with his team of agents, inspiring a standoff between the true believers within their compound and the trigger-happy agents outside.

That’s the plot of the movie, certainly, but it’s not necessarily what the movie is about, if you can dig that.  Kevin Smith, who wrote, directed and edited this film, is making a statement here.  Within this film, Smith opines on religious extremism (his back-and-forth with members of Fred Phelps’ church is largely a matter of public record, and Smith even name checks Phelps in one scene), governmental bureaucracy, man’s cruelty to his fellow man, and even dogs, to an extent.  In short, this is a movie of ideas, some you’ll find appetizing, others not so much, but, for whatever else Red State may be, it is the singular vision of an artist communicating ideas through art, and you have to give Smith some credit for that.

 Besides the artsy-fartsy reasons to see this movie, there’s also, front-and-center, Michael parks as Abin Cooper in a harrowing performance.  An extended scene in which we come to know Cooper’s beliefs through his sermon is terrifying and mesmerizing, and that scene alone is worth the price of admission.  Likewise, John Goodman and Melissa Leo both give noteworthy performances, and Goodman is especially good in the film’s closing act.

Not all is rosy in Cooper’s Dell, however.  Some may be put off by the film’s non-linear nature, though if you enjoy your occasional Tarantino picture, or even a little Rob Zombie, you shouldn’t be too distressed by some creative license there.  What you may not go for, instead, is the Smith-recognizable sex-obsessed dialog in the first fifteen minutes, but, if that sort of subject matter isn’t for you, hang in there.  These teens aren’t so concerned with sex after things get “grown up” in the church. 

What you will most certainly enjoy is Smith’s willingness to go a step too far in some moments, and, by so doing, sets the audience up for one of the most peculiarly satisfying endings to a film in some time.  Red State is rough-around-the-edges artistry that has a little something to offend almost everyone, but should be viewed for the chances it’s willing to take.  Where so many movies are content to do the mundane in a flashy way, Smith veers his movie onto thin ice with both subject matter and presentation, and manages to skate to successful moviemaking on the other side.  It’s a welcome shift from his typical films, and the sign of a confident artist at the peak of his creative freedom.