`SEPTEMBER' A TASTELESS EXPLOITATION OF 9-11.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic ALTERNATING between the despicable and the inept and sometimes capturing both in a single moment, ``September Tapes'' is a craven attempt to cash in on the 9/11 tragedy. This faux-reality movie is a direct descendant of ``The Blair Witch Project'' - violently shaky camera work, self-created mythology, hysterical tone - but while ``Blair'' sprang from a desire to tap into primal fears, ``September Tapes'' seems merely a cheap, exploitative stunt weighted down by its own self-importance. The fact that an advertisement for this movie includes the blurb blurb n. A brief publicity notice, as on a book jacket. [Coined by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), American humorist.] blurb v. ``war porn'' - and incredibly views the comment as a selling point selling point n. An aspect of a product or service that is stressed in advertising or marketing. Noun 1. selling point - a characteristic of something that is up for sale that makes it attractive to potential customers - pretty much tells you all you need to know about both the movie and the filmmakers' motives. Writer-director-producer Christian Johnston wants you to think he's a guerrilla movie guy, dropping into Afghanistan and shooting footage in dicey areas. But that's nothing compared to the audacity it takes to include a fake phone call from a victim on board one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center and pass it off as a plot device. The gimmick of ``September Tapes'' is that a bozo named Don Larson (George Calil) goes to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden: see bin Laden, Osama. . Maybe ask him why he's so mean. Maybe kill him. It's unclear at first. So ``Lars'' runs around Kabul, riling up black market arms dealers, behaving like a hyperactive hy·per·ac·tive adj. 1. Highly or excessively active, as a gland. 2. Having behavior characterized by constant overactivity. 3. Afflicted with attention deficit disorder. idiot, believing, naturally, that his vigilante-style antics will immediately win him the kinds of friends that will help him complete his mission. You don't buy a minute of it. For one thing, Calil makes Jean-Claude Van Damme look like Brando. (Memo to filmmakers: If you can't write and your lead actor speaks exclusively in a stilted stilt·ed adj. 1. Stiffly or artificially formal; stiff. 2. Architecture Having some vertical length between the impost and the beginning of the curve. Used of an arch. tone, you might want to avoid using a voice-over commentary throughout the film.) The movie feels like what is - an unscripted un·script·ed adj. Not adhering to or in accordance with a script written beforehand: "his unscripted encounters with the press" Eleanor Clift. goof, cobbled cob·ble 1 n. 1. A cobblestone. 2. Geology A rock fragment between 64 and 256 millimeters in diameter, especially one that has been naturally rounded. 3. cobbles See cob coal. tr. together in the editing room. Worse, you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to believe. Johnston apparently did go to Afghanistan, but is the film's graphic violence real or fictional? The confusion merely reinforces the wrongheadedness of the whole idea of making a fake movie about real tragedy. As executed here, it's simply another ugly American trying to cash in on the misfortune of others. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com SEPTEMBER TAPES - No stars (R: violence, language) Starring: George Calil, Wali Razaqi. Director: Christian Johnston. Running time: 1 hr. 37 min. Playing: Loews Cineplex Beverly Center in Los Angeles. In a nutshell: Audacious, but not in the way the filmmakers want you to think it is. |
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