Tweet
Released by: Cinema Epoch
Released on: 7/13/2010
Director: Kerry Douglas Dye, Jordan Hoffman
Cast: Robert Gomes, Leslie Kendall, Frank Deal, Deborah Gibson,
Year: 2007
Purchase from Amazon
The Movie:
OCD sufferer Kip (Robert Gomes) lives in a Manhattan apartment left to him by his grandmother which happens to be rent-controlled, so he pays a fraction of what the rent should cost (which is mentioned as ten thousand dollars a month!). Since he works from home he hasn't left his apartment in nearly a year, and as a result he has as germ-free of a domicile as he can possibly get. Things are going as fine as they can for someone with the extremity of his condition. Then Celine moves into the apartment across from him.
Celine (Leslie Kendall) is a petite little thing who wants to get to know the people she shares the floor with and introduces herself. Kip is blatantly uncomfortable and seems standoffish, and the meeting between the crack of the door ends quickly. Later, she knocks on his door again. Her abusive ex-boyfriend Andy (Frank Deal) has taken her pocket book and with it went her cell phone, keys, etc. She needs to use his phone and wait for a locksmith, so he reluctantly lets her in. Afterwards she asks him to dinner, but he worms his way into having her come to his place later and from there they seem to hit it off. She seems to want to help him get past his fears and resume some normalcy. But things get heated between Celine and her ex-Andy, and Kip gets involved. The results reveal that there is more to this triangle than meets the eye.
The movie starts off in a psychiatric facility and Kip being given therapy by none-other than Debbie Gibson. Thankfully she's not in it much. So almost the entire movie is a flashback, with the end being back in the hospital. That in it self is not a good sign to this reviewer, but since they keep the present to just the beginning and end, the flashback stuff isn't irritating. The rest of the story pokes along at an okay pace, but really doesn't get going until half way through. Yes, at some point the true plot is revealed and yes, it's a right turn sort of device, but then it takes a turn not expected and is moderately rewarding. At least enough to be worth sitting through the mostly uneventful first half, which is laden with nudeless sex scenes.
The players are relatively unknowns and the three main characters play their parts with competence and effectiveness. Robert Gomes plays the OCD sufferer really well and makes some great faces (very George Clooney-ish), Leslie Kendall is much better looking than the DVD box art portrays and is really likeable, and Frank Deal plays an asshole very convincingly. It's a decent independent film shot nicely that should be checked out for sure.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It isn't the greatest looking DVD in the world. There is quite a lot of grain throughout and the overall picture is kind of murky. It's not really a distraction though, and assuming the budget for the movie was pretty micro, it something that can be easily forgiven. There's nothing of note by way of imperfections other than it just looks washed out.
2.0 Dolby Digital is the track on this one. It is clear of any defects like pops, hissing, skipping. At one point it looked like the sync was off, but if it was it didn't continue to look as such. The music is sort of annoying and in a few places subtly overpowers the dialogue. It was the xylophones. Accursed little things.
There is a commentary by the two directors and they are talkers. The guys sound like two really nice people who love the movie they made and have a love for movies in general. It's a fun listen without much by way of dead air. They are enthusiastic and are obviously having a good time talking about their work. Also, there are two deleted scenes with optional commentary, each scene a couple of minutes in length. Both scenes are interesting and maybe they should have been kept in the movie and instead they could have cut out some of the exposition in the first half. There's also a trailer for the film and a silent still gallery (screens captures).
The Final Word:
Good performances, a nice mix of dark humor, Body/Antibody is a pretty decent little film. The commentary gives it some extra points. Not the greatest movie to be seen in 2010, but definitely better than the average.
