I swear Valentine’s Day is more divisive than any other holiday out there. You are either in the “IN” crowd and purchasing cards, trading kisses, and declaring your love via Facebook, or you are out patrolling for a partner, celebrating with your cat (her way), or passive aggressively hating your partner.
Me? I spent it sick on the couch (Sorry Mrs. Jaw! You get double next weekend.)
Over the last few days, I’ve been watching Nobody Can Cool, a great little indie flick from DPYX. The plot is interesting, but I could only really identify with the main character (Susan). The characters make some very questionable decisions, but overall it’s not a bad film.
Susan (Catherine Annette) and David (David Atlas) are returning from a wedding and decide to take a small vacation at a friend’s isolated cabin in the wilderness. (The setup is much like The Strangers.) Susan is frustrated with David as he is very work oriented. When she speaks to him, there is so much contempt in her voice.
However, once they get to the cabin, things take an odd turn. They walk in on a couple getting it on in the living room of the cabin. After an awkward introduction, Len (Nick Principe) and Gigi (Nikki Bohm) explain that they have the cabin until the next day. Len invites David and Susan to stay and David accepts (despite Len’s obvious creepiness). Despite the unnaturalness of this decision to reality, Susan and David start to rekindle the magic the magic they had. As they are falling asleep, however, Susan hears their car starting and finds their bedroom door locked.
Len and Gigi’s sinister reasons they are there are revealed, and we find that the couples are not the only ones in the house. The couples take turns capturing each other, and the film becomes very interesting when we divulge from the group setting to more one-on-one scenes.
I’ve seen the trailer to Lucky Bastard, and I didn’t realize Annette was in it until I saw her IMDB page. I will definitely be checking that out as she is a real talent. Susan was easy to hate whenever she clenched her teeth and snapped at David, and she was easy to root for throughout the movie. She was realistic in this sense (as was Gigi. David was quite one dimension, and Len was too creepy to pull this off.). All in all, the cast does well however.
The characters decisions in this seemed…off. I’m not sure what compelled David and Susan to stay in the cabin that night, just as I’m not sure why Len and Gigi invited them to stay. At one point, Susan is holding Len hostage and decides to get drunk with him (and they bond). David (in general) doesn’t react to anything (car being stolen, threatened at gun point,etc). Although I liked the story, it just seemed confusing as to how the characters got to the next scene.
Nobody Can Cool is great little film. Catherine Annette is quite a talent, and I expect some big things from first time Directors/Writers DPYX (Marcy Boyle and Rachel Holzman) in the future. You can check out an exclusive clip of the film on Eli Roth’s new horror app the Crypt www.fearthecrypt.com, and it will make its UK premiere next weekend at the Jennifer’s Bodies Film Festival in Scotland. Follow the film at their website (www.nobodycancool.com), Twitter (@nobodycancool), or on Facebook (Nobody-Can-Cool) for the latest news on festivals and distribution.