[critical] THE SCRIBBLER

THE SCRIBBLER : an honest B-series that makes up for its lack of resources by an unbounded ambition for the appearance techniques.

The film is therefore defined by excess, and of many influences, but in the end managed to convince them to default to have the personality.

History : Suki is suffering from schizophrenia : several personalities from the component a, The Scribbler, the particularity to be silent but to write around, and upside down. This facet of it even seems to be more influential than the other.

Considered mad Suki is placed by his psychiatrists in one place, the Tower Juniper, supposed to protect its people from suicide linked to madness. Only here. Since his arrival, the mysterious deaths are linked…

From the outset, the viewer is immersed in a universe that he does not know or understand. Director John Suits, installs from the presentations, a dark atmosphere, creepy and unique, sandwiched between the polar (The story is a survey carried out a posteriori by Suki, a lot of voice-overs), and an aesthetic that is very Terry Gilliam-esque, or even Carpenter-ienna (den of madness)

Also, strangely, these are the references which allow access to the film, not the script. Thus, from the intro, Suki self-proclaimed queen of insanity… The film will follow therefore a logical story totally incomprehensible, almost mad!!!

A script difficult to access, strengthened by a realization of the television (gasps), a mounting, hysterical, a photo hyper-saturated… This excess in the mise en scene ends, however, by literally becoming the subject of the film : the madness.

To represent it, John Suits, associate to his mise-en-scene, a lot of gimmicks*. Gimmicky visuals, but also sound.

None of these gimmicks is original : here, Fight Club/Panic Room, then Memento or The Machinist, Watchmen, The Fountain, and many others. The sound, to each other, do directly think about the culture of video games (Silent Hill, Bioshock, etc)

Together, they participate in this amazing atmosphere, because éclectiquement multi-influenced, and hence, recognizable, and accessible.

”the schizophrenia of the character becomes the schizophrenia of the film, and eventually form a coherent whole”

The interpretation, itself, is fairly average. Katie Cassidy’s confused facial expressions/bodily supported, with the involvement in his role.

With the exception of Garrett Dillahunt – as always perfect, the casting is pretty selfless… which is not really a defect, but rather a gimmick extra, one of the B series, or video game.

The film is, therefore, an accumulation of gimmicks* shaping the narrative into chapters, forming several loops in succession. Each with more magnitude than the previous one, but following a pattern is fortunately broken by the final chapter : the various strands of plot converging on a surprise ending, unbridled and unpredictable.

THE SCRIBBLER is therefore defined by all these references to great works and genres, themselves steeped in references to a movie theater oldest… Inevitably, this gives one side already seen in the set ; the schizophrenia of the character becomes the schizophrenia of the film, and eventually form a coherent whole, failing to give him personality. The film of John Suits, therefore does not seek really to revolutionize anything, but rather to be entertained by the excess.

Excess influences, too much story, too much aesthetic, interpretation excessive… The film falls down, however, on its legs, in a final, excessive, of course.

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• Original title : The Scribbler

• Achievement : John Suits

• Scenario : Daniel Schaffer

• Main actors : Katie Cassidy, Eliza Dushku, Garrett Dillahunt, Gina Gershon

• Country of origin : U. S. A.

• Output : On VOD October 1,

• Duration : 1h29min

• Distributor : Pathé

• Synopsis : Antechamber of hell on earth, the Tower Juniper brings together a variety of sociopathic and degenerate mental, violent of preference.

A hell in which saw Suki, a young woman who tries to overcome his mental illness with the help of a new treatment in which it does not control all the effects… So that the murders follow one another to Juniper, Suki will very quickly become suspect # 1.

* In the field of cinema, a gimmick is a visual effect, a different way of shooting, or even phrases in languages conducive to identify intrinsically its author

Ex : Brian De Palma and Split-Screen

Sergio Leone and its alternating close-ups and panoramic

Jack Nicholson and his tics visuals expressing the madness

Terrence Malick and its atmosphere, twilight, its characters who flannent in the tall grass, etc