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Bellflower: Apocalypse Now

By Jim Rohner · August 9, 2011

Bellflower is not a film you watch, but instead, like an apocalypse, a film you survive.  The film's tagline is "a love story with apocalyptic stakes" and for the first half of the film's runtime, it would certainly seem that our two leads – the shy, but sincere Woodrow (writer/director Evan Glodell) and his slightly alcoholic, laid back best friend, Aiden (Tyler Dawson) – are preparing for a cataclysm of global proportions.  Fans of the post-apocalyptic Mad Max, the two friends spend the majority of their time building and testing the tools of intimidation for their proposed post-apocalyptic gang, "Mother Medusa."  A homemade flamethrower and possibly the baddest ass muscle car ever captured on film mark the fruition of Woodrow and Aiden's work, and both tools come into play once the apocalypse finally hits.

But this is not your standard apocalypse.  Such a term invokes thoughts of sudden unprecedented catastrophe and smothering emotional uncertainty as the bell tolls for the world's end.  But 20-somethings in the audience will more than likely attest to those same symptoms as part and parcel of the broken heart experience – a personal apocalypse.  Evan's personal world crumbles around him courtesy of Milly (Jessie Wiseman), an outgoing girl he first meets during a cricket eating competition in a bar.  "You don't want me to be your girlfriend," she warns on their first date, a spur of the moment cross-country trip to the diviest restaurant Woodrow can think of (which happens to be in Texas).  "Things will go bad."  How bad?  When you think of the apocalypse, do you think of flames, blood, death, destruction?  That kind of bad.

Bellflower needs to be survived because Bellflower will not allow you to get settled.  Divided into chapters, the film tries as hard as it can to rip you free from the complacency that accompanies the typical moviegoing experience one chapter at a time with a constant barrage of left turns that irrevocably mark steps toward its decent into madness.  One of the final shots of the film features Woodrow marching down the street towards the camera, his face and white t-shirt soaked in blood as he ignores the cries of another character who commits suicide behind him.  The gunshot caps off a series of "oh shits!" and "what the hells?" that enhance the tragedy of what has befallen a gentle soul that 40 minutes earlier had naively declared, "you won't hurt me" to the girl he undoubtedly thought was The One for him. 

But that's not to say Woodrow is innocent.  Half of the physical and emotional destruction that is wreaked in Bellflower is a result of escalation from Woodrow's actions, but because of how effectively Glodell captures the angst, ache, and nihilism inherent in the life of every 20-something, everyone who's ever been young can relate to it to one degree or another.  Glodell's interactions with Dawson are some of the most natural you'll ever see, no doubt enhanced by the rapport that only two real-life friends can bring to an interaction. 

In this regard, Bellflower utilizes the best traits of the mumblecore genre from which it is partially spawned, delighting in the innocent and simple exchanges between two friends who simply delight in each other.  Yet with its arsenal of "dudes" and "super fucking cools," it also borrows from the worst traits of mumblecore with scenes that meander and exist seemingly just to cushion the running time.  Fans of plot and resolution, be warned – Bellflower concerns itself very little with both, unfolding scenes at its own manic.  often non-linear pace en route to an ending that will make you question everything you've seen come before. 

A favorite at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Bellflower will no doubt be polarizing to many viewers – brilliant to some and a waste of time to others – with the divide likely a result of those who remember the personal tragedies of their youth and those who have forgotten.  It might be hyperbolic to assume that an apocalypse can be personal, but to those, like Woodrow, who have experienced one, you're just left wondering when the mushroom cloud will clear.