Accidents Happen

There are a few topics that have been embraced by independent film makers, particularly at the start of their careers. Regrettably the most popular appears to be the low budget slash and dash horror flick pitting stoned out teens against mutant serial killers. Hot on the heels of this type of movie is the intimate portrait of the dysfunctional family. Recent festival entrant ‘Accidents Happen’ is another attempt at tackling this all too familiar theme. Perhaps one rationale behind this category of movies is no matter how messed up your own family dynamic may be it is hopefully nowhere as bad as the family depicted on the screen. This film sets a higher goal than it was able to reach but even with that said the movie does exhibit an honest effort by a writer and director still in the process of refining their stylistic way in their crafts. Without films like this serving as a learning experience progress in cinema would quickly come to a halt. It is possible to enjoy the effort even if the end product falls short and this is such a film. I look forward to their next project just to witness the grown the undoubtedly have coming. At one time you would have to be fortunate enough to live in a location in proximity to a movie art house or theater willing to show little independent films. Now, thanks to the growing popularity of DVD and its immediate successor, Blu-ray you living room can become an Indy film festival. You this is your predilection then the changes you are already familiar with the distributor of this movie, Image Entertainment. By supporting films like this that shoe potential you help to pave the way for much greater films. This flick may have its share of technical problems but it does tell a story worth hearing.

This is the first feature screenplay for writer Brian Carbee. While there is an interesting premise at the core of the story the characters are frequently too broadly painted lacking in specific details. I’ve seen this movie categorizes as a comedy-drama, a dramatic comedy and a black comedy and although a case made be for each genre the film floats between each definition unsure of where to land. This is not uncommon with a new writer; it is as if he is anxious to trying all his ideas in one opus unable to trust his instincts yet and commit to a single course. A few more scripts under his belt and I’m certain the results will be more clearly defined. Likewise director Andrew Lancaster is moving to full length films from helming a number of shorts. His directorial style is solid but needs to improve the flow of the story. Here, the action is somewhat episodic resulting in a disjointed feel to the film as a whole. One aspect of the film that gets in the way of it reaching its goal is in the choice of setting. As inferred by the prominent display of the American flag waving in the breeze above a lush, verdant lawn. The thing is this is actually an idealized Australian view of the American suburbs. Audiences here in the States will notice the albeit subtle differences, personally I found this interesting to see how another culture views ours but it can distract from some of the points the story is trying to convey

The narrative voice of the film (Tyler Coppin) concentrates on the lamentable life of the Conway family, particularly the youngest son, Billy (Karl Beattie, later on Harrison Gilbertson). One of the pivotal moments of his life occurred in 1974 when he was passing time one hot summer day jumping in the lawn sprinkler. Their neighbor Mr. Smolensky was inept at starting the barbeque result in a self emollition right in front of the boy. The Conway family experienced more than their share of accidents with a car crash killing Billy’s Sister Linda (Ivy Latimer) and institutionalizing one of his older twin brothers Gene. This left the family consisting of Billy, the remaining twin, Larry (Flynn Colby) their father Ray (Joel Tobeck) and at the center everything his mother Gloria (Geena Davis). One of the most notable things about Gloria is the mouth on her. She uses pejoratives as her most commonly employed means of self expression with not a single person or situation subject to her barbed comments. She is the Queen of passive aggression in the community much to Billy’s chagrin. When Gloria has to have an emergency hysterectomy Billy winds up staying with a neighbor family, the Posts. The Father is ill informed especially in the category of world history but Billy gravitates to the son, Doug (Lachlan Campbell an old friend of Gene and all round high spirited bad influence. It doesn’t take long before Billy is sneaking out nightly getting into mischief of all kinds with Doug. By this point the central family dynamic has deteriorated to the point where Ray has moved out.

Throughout the film accidents are used to catalyze the action. This pattern is maintained from small, insignificant mishaps like Billy being burned when Larry, blossoming into a mean alcoholic, tosses a hot TV dinner on him up to major life changing happenstances as seen with the slow motion car crash. The prank that Doug thinks up quickly escalates until Doug’s father is killed when the boys toss a bowling ball at a speeding car. Another part of the way the film misses its mark is the inability to reach an emotional connection with the audience. This is extremely difficult in a case like this where there is little that is likable about most of the characters and the accidents the cause bring undeserved misfortune on others. This also makes many of the accidents seem contrived. The editing tries it best to coherently string together the vignettes that compose the film but they remain overly detached. The separate elements are here and with a little more experience these film makers are sure to make great strides.

Posted 07/26/2010