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Released by: Random Media
Released on: April 29, 2014
Director: Randy Moore
Cast: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Alison Lees-Taylor
Year: 2013
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The Movie
If AdBusters magazine and late-period Terry Gilliam (think Tideland or The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) made a movie together about Disney World, it probably would have turned out a lot like Escape from Tomorrow.
The debut film from writer/director Randy Moore, Escape from Tomorrow is a satire and psychological horror film set in The Happiest Place on Earth. The movie begins with a brief but thorough legal disclaimer, and then a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster transports the viewer into the Magic Kingdom: where dreams come true and minds are shattered. After the title credits appear, we're introduced to Jim, our point of view and main character throughout the film. Before heading out to the Walt Disney World theme park for the last day of his family vacation, Jim (Roy Abramsohn) is fired from his job and locked out of his hotel suite by his son Elliot (Jack Dalton). Jim and the rest of his family, including wife Emily (Elena Schubert) and daughter Sara (Katelyn Rodriguez), leave for the park. Waiting on the Disney Monorail System to take them to the park, Jim is distracted by two teenage French girls who playfully flirt with his attention. These girls will become an obsession of Jim's for the rest of the film. Once they arrive at the park, the family boards the magical It's a Small World boat ride, during which Jim begins to hallucinate. And from this point on, Jim's mental state begins a downward slide until the film's head-spinning, surreal conclusion.
When dealing with a character who is losing control of their sanity most films often take the slow approach to mental degradation (for example, Sam Lowry's break from reality in Brazil), but Escape From Tomorrow bucks that trend by immediately signifying that Jim is mentally ill and Disney is only making his condition worse. It's also clear early on that Jim is sexually frustrated, and is possibly even a pedophile, as his obsession with French teenagers escalates to the point where he's deliberately stalking them throughout the park with his son, and later with his daughter. The sexual overtones of the film continue on in the film, when Jim meets a similarly frustrated woman who invites him back to her hotel room for some rope play and casual sex. Adding this element of human sexuality to such a safe, family friendly environment like Disney World transforms the theme park into an unfamiliar and even predatory environment. Another element that works to defamiliarize Disney is the film's black and white cinematography. Disney is such a colorful and vibrant environment that even just taking the color out of the Magic Kingdom can make it seem threatening and grim.
Millions of people around the world love Disney: they love the films, the characters, the mythology, and the merchandising. Escape From Tomorrow is emphatically not for those people. This is a movie for people who mistrust Disney, who find the House of Mouse creepy, its colonization of children's imaginations a seduction of the innocent, and as a corporation, a key player in the continued propagation of the Myth of the American Dream. Many of the popular criticisms of Disney and its films are personified through the characters of the film. The young French teens who literally become fairies in Jim's mind aren't just an object of his obsessive gaze, they're also a personified commentary on the sexualization of characters in children's entertainment, in particular, Tinkerbell and the other faeries from the now expanded universe of Disney's Tinkerbell direct-to-video movies. The horny cougar who has sex with Jim and later kidnaps his son, dresses up like Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, personifying a popular feminist critique of Disney's tendency to make sexually independent and/or powerful female characters into monstrous villains (see: Ursula from The Little Mermaid). These are just a few examples of characters in the film that personify key criticisms of Disney, particularly as they relate to gender, but you could say just as much about the film's themes and its criticism of Disney and capitalism or the effect of Disney on children.
Most viewers are going to be most drawn into the spectacle of the film, which was filmed without permission and on location inside the Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando Florida and in Walt Disney Land in Anaheim, California. The park we see in the film is a composite of these two locations, meant to evoke the spirit of the Disney theme park if not the actual park itself. It's a rare glimpse inside a place that many people only get to visit once or twice in their lifetimes. Visually it's a marvel, and it's a miracle that the filmmakers ever got away with such a daring film shoot, or were able to screen and distribute the film after it was finished. Unfortunately, there are some really poor green-screen effects that were clearly filmed after the initial shoot. Depending on your point of view, this will either detract from the film or enhance the already surreal quality of the visual experience.
On a technical level, Escape from Tomorrow is indeed very impressive. The film was shot in black and white and not converted in post-production, and as a result the choice in aesthetic is striking, and works very well the film's more nightmarish visual effects. In spite of the fact that the movie was shot in secret, and often while the cast were on Disney rides while being monitored by park security, the cinematography is nicely framed and expertly shot. This doesn't have the feel of a found footage movie, it looks like a film that was shot in a much more controlled and deliberate environment that it was, and this is absolutely to the film's credit. On the musical side of things, Abel Korzeniowski's score evokes the feeling of Disney without necessarily riffing on any pieces of music that Disney made famous. The only part of the score that doesn't quite work is during the It's a Small World scene, where it's obvious what song should be playing and isn't. While it's a shame that (for obvious reasons) the film wasn't able to use any music that originated in the Magic Kingdom, Korzeniowski's score is a suitable and welcome substitute.
If there is a major flaw to the film, it's that the main cast are not very good, and their line delivery and general behavior towards each other just seems stilted and unnatural. Their performances really define the tone of the film, which as I mentioned earlier is Gilliam-esque, and it will either work for you or it won't. I found Roy Abramsohn and especially Elena Schubert's performances to be grating and amateurish. I was legitimately surprised while watching certain scenes that they weren't caught based on how obvious it seemed that they were acting. It's incredible that the cast was able to pull this stunt off, and really, Escape from Tomorrow is a film to be amazed by precisely because it is such an audacious piece of stunt filmmaking, not because it's a particularly well-acted film.
Audio/Video/Extras
Escape from Tomorrow is presented in a 16:9 1.85.1 widescreen aspect ratio on DVD with an impressively sharp MPEG-2 encoded transfer. The movie looks great on DVD. The picture is very clear and, while some compression can be seen in still frames or when the movie is paused, when the image is in motion its not noticeable thanks to the mostly excellent black and white cinematography. Considering that most of the movie was shot on location at Disney World and Disney Land, it's amazing that the film looks as good as it does. There is only one audio option included on this DVD, and it's an immersive English language Dolby Digital 5.1 track. This solitary audio track uses a nice range of the 5.1 setup, and during the film's more hallucinogenic moments, the quality of the audio really enhances the surreal atmosphere of the movie. English closed captions are available, but there are no other language or subtitle options offered on this disc.
Extras on the DVD include two commentaries, a short but informative feature on the Making Of Escape from Tomorrow, a Theatrical Poster Gallery, and a trailer for the film. The fifteen-minute long Making Of feature features Drew McWeeny of Hitfix.com (and formerly AICN), writer/director Randy Moore, and members of the cast. McWeeny talks mostly about the experience of discovering the film, first seeing it at Sundance, and his reaction to the film. Moore goes into the genesis of the film, how his experiences at Disney as a child and as an adult shaped the development of the film and its themes. He also talks about putting together the cast and crew of the film, and his desire to make certain that despite the guerrilla filmmaking process, it wasn't going to look like a found footage film. If you're interested in learning how the cast and crew prepared for filming in the park, how certain scenes were pulled off, or how the filmmakers got around some of the potential legal issues, but don't have the patience for a commentary track, the Making Of is essential viewing.
The first commentary track features writer/director Randy Moore and cinematographer Lucas Lee Graham. Moore and Graham have a good rapport with each other and seem to genuinely enjoy each others company as they talk about the making of the film over beers. They talk at length about the difficulties involved in shooting at the park and are pretty candid about which shots they felt worked and what didn't, where continuity errors exist, which shots were filmed at Disney Land vs. Disney World, and so on. They also address how weird some of the scenes they shot must have looked to actual park attendants who weren't aware they were extras on a movie set. It's a very technical commentary track but their frank evaluation of the film's strengths and flaws and general camaraderie makes this an entertaining listen, and a must-listen for any aspiring guerrilla or independent filmmakers.
The second commentary track is an unusual affair, as actors Roy Abramsohn and Elena Schuber record the commentary in character as if they're having a date night, watching a movie, which they soon realize is starring themselves. It's an odd experiment that switches between the actors giving a running commentary of the film as if it's a home movie, adding another level of surrealism to an already strange film. As far as gimmick commentaries go, it's an interesting idea, but Schuber's “performance†is surprisingly even worse here than in the film, and ultimately the commentary is more annoying than entertaining. It might have been more interesting if the actors committed to the idea and really went with it during some of the film's more surreal moments, but they tend to keep quiet and just gloss over the film's stranger scenes.
The Final Word
Escape from Tomorrow is a polarizing, surreal oddity of a film. That it exists is a marvel unto itself, but its sheer novelty doesn't quite make up for some pacing issues, jarring green-screen effects, and the stilted, often grating performances from the cast. However, despite its many flaws, Escape from Tomorrow is an effectively subversive black comedy that truly features some nightmarish and awe-inspiring imagery. This is the Magic Kingdom as you've never seen it before, and are likely to never see again.
