Like the pic to the left? That is a pic of me Thursday night, a self-pic as I lay in an ER bed, awaiting confirmation of what I strongly suspected... acute appendicitis, baby, and thus began the Savster's most recent hospital trip, but that story is for a bit later. For now, a quick review of a movie I watched last night, Bug. I had moderate expectations for the film until speaking with my boss at work and hearing how much he enjoyed the film. He has pretty solid taste in film, so my expectations rose, and were not disappointed. The film is adopted from a play, and maintains that same enclosed setting, and the film never panders to it's audience. There are multiple ways to interpret what is happening here.
The premise is simple. Ashley Judd's character Aggie lives in a crumbly ramshackle semi-apartment that's part of a motor lodge. She has a shitty waitressing job at a lesbian bar, an abusive ex-husband recently released from jail, and a child she lost years ago. Not to death, or a court system, but actually just lost. Disappeared from a super market. Basically, her life sucks, a lot. The opening scenes show her answering her phone and saying "hello, hello" and never receiving an answer. She believes it's her ex -husband, Jerry Goss , and wonders if he is out on parole and on his way back. She figures it's him calling to screw with her.
One night after work she parties with her only friend, RC, another waitress at the lesbian bar. R.C. introduces Aggie to some guy, Peter, a very reserved, passive, odd but apparently harmless character. He stays there when RC leaves to go to a big bash. He and Aggie begin a friendship, and he stays the night . (Although nothing sexual happens.)
Aggie's ex shows up in the am and makes comments about her losing weight (which she denies). She argues with him, tells him to leave, and at one point mentions their lost son, causing Jerry to snap and smack her. Peter returns with breakfast (2 small muffins for the both of them) and Jerry leaves, telling her he has business to take care of but that he will be back in a week or two. At one point, he picks up a pipe and sees some white lines on a mirror,puts some of the white power on his fingers and rubs it against his gums, looks over at her, and asks "You still snorting this shit" to which she replies "apparently so".
Later that night Aggie and Peter have sex, and go to sleep afterwards. Peter wakes up in the middle of the night complaining about being bitten, a bite Aggie can't see, but wants to see because Peter couldn't be making this up, could he?
The movie was extremely harrowing, and I highlighted the previous sections because as I watched the film, I was uncertain what avenue was being explored. In case someone reads this and wants to watch the film, I do not to spoil anything, but let's just say Jerry is odd and full of some pretty involved worries about persecution, privacy, and agendas, and Aggie is a pretty sad person herself. The movie grabbed me and didn't let go, and at one point during a lengthy diallogue between the 2 I was a bit annoyed, until it hit me.
I highly recommend this movie, although it is very, very intense., and your familiarity with drug use and mental health goes a long way in putting some sense to it all. Plus it was nice to see Ashley Judd act again, something I really haven't seen much of since way back in her debut, Ruby in Paradise.
Beast
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