To put it nicely, American Animal is an absurd indie movie about a man living with his reckless best friend who is not only mentally ill but physically ill as well. To put it bluntly, it is an art movie that tried too hard to be an art movie. American Animal is an experience, albeit an unpleasant one.

A long hair scruffy face man named Jimmy (Matt D’Elia) wakes up in his hot pink underwear coughing up blood. He then proceeds to finish a whole bottle of water from all the pills he needs to take. Jimmy is a hyperactive eccentric human being who annoys his roommate James (Brendan Fletcher) as much as he does us as viewers.

Act One in the film begins when two attractive looking ladies both named Angela arrive at their front door. We do not know how, or more importantly why, they arrive there but they do. They seem perfectly content to sit around watching Jimmy’s shenanigans which involve; trying to be Dean Martin, lecture them about not doing drugs while doing drugs, and pretending it is Christmas even though it is August.

Trouble arises in Act Two when Jimmy finds out that James got a job, which he needs to wake up for in the morning. This disturbs the jobless fantasy world that they currently have which is supported by their rich fathers. Jimmy believes jobs are overrated and conforming because jobs are what society what you to have.

It is Jimmy’s world and he makes the rules. As the title states, Jimmy is an American animal who either does not know social normality’s or choices not to follow them. He makes this all very blunt throughout the entire film between his long winded blabbering.

The Third Act is worth watching, if you can make it that far. For the first time in the film it is revealed why Jimmy may act the way he does. He shows his weakness but not enough for us to really empathize with his character. I believe that would be nearly impossible to do.

My biggest problem with the American Animal is that scenes go on for far too long without any significant result coming from them. It is frustrating and hard to sit through when the dialog is mostly non-sense that never really goes anywhere. I realize that this animal of a movie is not supposed to be tame but it is too out of control to enjoy.

I do have to give some credit to Matt D’Elia, who does not just star in the film but was also the writer, director, editor, and producer of it. Even though I did not find his performance satisfying, you have to appreciate the hard work he put in. American Animal did show guts and originality which makes me want to remember his name for future projects of his.

If there is one thing that American Animal had it was style. However, there were several things the movie did not have; an engaging plot, a script, and good acting. It is a movie that would be best served as a short instead of a 90 minute feature. Andy Warhol once said, “Art is what you can get away with”, while this particular performance art piece got away with labeling itself art, it did not get away with a pleasant experience.

To say Beyond the Black Rainbow is trippy is an understatement, I have a feeling some LSD trips are less intense as this. It is visually stunning with plenty of color filters, distortions, and off-the wall compositions that takes you to a futuristic alternate reality which makes you feel like you are the one on drugs. The only other film I can say had this same effect on me is Enter The Void. Beyond the Black Rainbow will take you on a trip, whether it is a good or bad one is up for you to decide. It is a midnight movie that has cult classic written all over it.

Opening with an infomercial style video set in 1983, Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands) states the purpose of the Arboria Institute. Their goal is to find the “perfect way for people to achieve happiness, contentment, inner peace.” The Institute claims to have found a way to make that dream a reality through their unique practices. I found the whole opening similar eerily similar to the Dharma Initiative training videos from the television series Lost (one of my all-time favorite shows).

Inside the state of the art facilities of Arboria Institute is the administrator Barry Nyle (Michael Rogers) who speaks into the microphone that sounds to the other side of the glass where our film’s mute protagonist Elena (Eva Allan) sits with her head hanging down. She does not look up but rather just sits and listens to what Barry has to say. Almost always he is trying to get a response out of her by saying something like how sorry he was that she never got to meet her mother and how beautiful she was.

Barry is a breathy speaker who seems to have special powers over his patients which he may or may not get from the pills that he takes himself. He is not the only one that contains special powers but no one but he is able to look through the eyes of God, as he puts it. He sees what others cannot, beautiful things like a black rainbows.

Then the film goes off for an hour on a highly stylized head-trip that makes you wonder if the experiment is really on you. Director Pano Cosmatos takes you on a hypnotic trip into an alternate reality on a level that few can achieve through cinema. It is only the beginning and the end that there is much of a plot and subsequently when reality sets back in, which is it’s biggest downfall.

Apparently at one of the Q&A’s, someone asked Cosmatos, “Can you help me understand better” and the first time filmmaker responded in a deadpan tone, “I don’t think I can.” This makes me believe that the director intended the film to not be one that someone understands but rather experiences.

The score is easily the best I have heard this year so far and will likely remain that way. Without it the film would not be the same, it sets the ominous feeling that lingers in the film. It was a score so perfectly fitting that even the synth masters themselves, Daft Punk, would have a hard time replicating the mood.

I think it would be fair to draw some comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey after watching Beyond the Black Rainbow. There is the obvious futuristic aspect where machines with flashing red buttons have tremendous power in a bright white minimalistic environment. Then you have the eerie repetitive soundtrack that accompanies the film nearly the entire time. Even the mood was unusual, creepy, and peculiar, like often found in Kubrick films.

Beyond the Black Rainbow more feels like a dream than anything else, scratch that, a nightmare. There is little to no plot as it ditches everything that is conventional for avant garde. Films like this, ones not driven by story but rather an experience, are the ones that you walk away from not knowing exactly how you feel about them because they are tough to analysis. One thing is for sure, it will likely be the most original film you see in a few years’ time.

Some call The Double Hour a foreign art house thriller while I would lean slightly more toward film nior, maybe it’s all of the above. I saw glimpses of Tell No One in this heart pounding Italian thriller from all of the twists and turns in the plot. One thing is for certain, the film begs to be watched more than once.

We first witness Sonia Bechis (Kseniya Rappoport) at work as a chambermaid cleaning a hotel room of a young woman. She announces to the person she will start first on the bathroom. It is only a few minutes later that Sonia hears a thud from the other room. Upon checking out the noise, she discovers that the woman has jumped to her death out the window.

Sonia seeks companionship through the means of speed dating. Her luck does not seem to be going her way, she has not found an interesting guy yet and she is on her last round. That is when she meets Guido (Filippo Timi), a seemingly polite gentleman who you can tell is not like the others. Unfortunately, time runs out before they really get a chance to talk much.

But coincidence takes over when the two run into each other as they are leaving. Guido is very forward with her by inviting her over to his place but she must turn it down as she works early tomorrow. After glancing at his watch, he notices it is 23:23, a double hour from which the title of the film comes from. He explains a double hour is much like a shooting star, you are granted a wish on it. The wish must have come true because it then cuts to the two of them having sex together.

As a romantic relationship forms we start to find out more about Guido. Like the fact he is an ex-cop. However, when asked what happened that that career he is short and vague by replying, “Nothing.” Perhaps he has something to hide? Or maybe the somewhat recent death of his wife has something to do with it?

Guido ends up taking Sonia to the large estate he currently looks after as a watchman/security guard. Behind the property is a vast forest in which he takes her out on a walk to. On their hike together he seems very paranoid and suspicious, he is constantly looking around him. As the two find a place to rest, they lean in to kiss when a man in a ski mask suddenly appears with a gun.

The two get tied up as a small gang steal artwork and other expensive valuables from the house. Once the criminals have everything they wanted, one of them goes back in to make sexual advances toward Sonia. That is when Guido lunges at the man with the gun but ends up getting shot and killed.

Just as the tagline of the movie states, “Nothing is what it seems”, the film weaves you back and forth between what happens and what you think happens. Describing any details beyond this point would be a disservice. It is precisely what makes this film so entertaining.

Both characters find happiness when together, a much needed break from depression that filled their lives before. Both characters have a sketchy past and damaged souls, a perfect match for each other. They are both as innocent looking as they are passionate.

Both the leads, Rappoport and Timi, were tremendous in their roles. You are led to believe that they both have something to hide, the actors did a great job of selling it. Their chemistry together seemed to be exactly what the director was going for, a strong connection but something is slightly off. Rappoport and Timi were rewarded with Best Actress and Best Actor awards respectfully at the Venice Film Festival in 2009.

The Double Hour is filled with enough twists that a few holes arise but not enough for it to ruin the point of the film. Director Giuseppe Capotondi mixes in a little bit of everything in the film, a romance, crime mystery, and even some haunting scenes. By far the neatest part of the film happens 1 hour 1 minute in when a huge twist is shown, right on a double hour. An amazing and thoughtful touch.