The third film from Neil Breen is as weird as the last two films, better than I Am Here...Now, and mercifully modest, for instead of space jesus Neil Breen is now a bestselling novelist/hacker/magic ghost who survives a hit and run that should have killed him and finds himself suddenly compelled to hack into...government stuff and expose the lies and corruption of government and big business the world over. Cos,' in case you didn't know, Neil Breen is the hero of the film, and he can do no wrong. He leaves hospital looking like the elephant man, has hot bandagey sex with his wife and gets on with his work. Interestingly his character, "Dylan" has some flaws in this film, like getting annoyed at his pill popping work-hating wife who he can no longer find time for because of his important mission. He becomes obsessed, soul-searching and tapping away on his (must be seven now) laptops in his home office. Unsurprisingly he's seeing two psychiatrists, and unsurprisingly one is urging him to take his medication because the other is a magic, psychic ghost. There are more prominent supporting characters in this film, like the troubled, hard-working couple who own a ferrari. The man is perpetually drunk and acts like an asshole, and she hates her job and gets mad at him for being a drunk asshole. The daughter acts out her frustration by swimming nude in Neil Breen's pool and using his bath. Can Breen save his pill-popping wife and his dysfunctional friends in time to save the world from evil politicians and bankers? Truly Breen is a tormented soul.
What strikes me as interesting is the way the film shows the complicity the average man has in the actions of both those around him and the world at large, and the struggle to do great good while loved ones destroy themselves. Breen is a great magic world-saving angel ghost and yet he has to keep his bitch on a leash and stop the poor family who own a ferrari from being drunk and stupid. Of course being rich doesn't solve problems but I really don't see how she needs to have that horrible job at the bank when they have a ferrari. Of course the drunk sex-deprived husband lords over it all day until his wife shoots him out of boredom. Misery loves company, so until Breen can solve all the problems of the world they meet up a lot and have dinner. I can't stress enough how awkward, hilarious and surreal the social scenes are. The weird thing is, there's a logic to it, the reactions make sense, but they're so weird it's like everyone's high on something. When Breen and his wife call to arrange to meet up with them, they're happy about it, and yet instead of getting on with what they're doing until such time as they meet up, they stand in the kitchen and grin with wide eyes like they're on drugs. Of course the film takes a hard anti-drug stance as does his previous film. Or at least anti big-pharma. Breen fatally quits his strong medication and his wife becomes addicted to it after eating it out of the toilet. I can't believe I just typed that, but I think this shows nicely how the success of one can be the fall of another. Breen finds a new lease in life while his wife becomes more depressed, bored and disillusioned. He must balance his great task with meeting the needs of his wife. In one touching scene he pushes everything aside (literally) and rips her clothes. So Breen cannot be satisfied with being a novelist and must do something big to change the world on a global scale, because he realises that small good deeds are always countered by bad ones so any change must be wide scale. The film is about trying to affect change in hopeless situations.
Eventually Breen gets straight to the source, and in a scene reminiscent of the crucified gangsters and politicians in the desert in I Am Here...Now, he speaks before the press and exposes the lies of corrupt senators and businessmen, and in a hilariously surreal scene they one by one admit to their mistakes before killing themselves in various way. One leaves a car running in a garage, two suddenly shoot themselves and one hangs himself. Just like that, instantly, they all give up before Breen's mighty power and the world is made a better place, but not without sacrifice, for Breen loses his wife and friends to the corruption of the world. It simply has to be seen. It could be metaphorical, showing how greed, cheating and lying is inherently self destructive in any form, but we'll never know. The film is on a par with Double Down for me. Both are masterpieces, grand in scope and vision, and I can't wait for his next film "Pass Thru."
Eventually Breen gets straight to the source, and in a scene reminiscent of the crucified gangsters and politicians in the desert in I Am Here...Now, he speaks before the press and exposes the lies of corrupt senators and businessmen, and in a hilariously surreal scene they one by one admit to their mistakes before killing themselves in various way. One leaves a car running in a garage, two suddenly shoot themselves and one hangs himself. Just like that, instantly, they all give up before Breen's mighty power and the world is made a better place, but not without sacrifice, for Breen loses his wife and friends to the corruption of the world. It simply has to be seen. It could be metaphorical, showing how greed, cheating and lying is inherently self destructive in any form, but we'll never know. The film is on a par with Double Down for me. Both are masterpieces, grand in scope and vision, and I can't wait for his next film "Pass Thru."
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