I BLAME SOCIETY | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Gillian Wallace Horvat (15, 85 mins)
A wry, low-budget horror comedy/documentary with a political agenda, I Blame Society is a cuddlier Man Bites Dog with a strong female lead. Gillian Wallace Horvat, who also directs and co-writes, plays Gillian, a frustrated filmmaker rebutted by the patriarchal LA independent film scene. Walking an uncomfortable, if often hilarious, fine line between reality and fiction, Horvat chronicles her struggles as a filmmaker, the hoops she has to go through, and her determination to prove that she can do whatever she wants… and also that she could be a murderer.
What starts off rather jokily, as she tries to dissuade her friend Chase from a relationship with another girl she nicknames Stalin, descends gradually into serial killer territory, anchored by an engaging metanarrative from Gillian, who documents everything. She wears Go Pros, sets up hand-cranked dolly shots using wheelchairs and films herself having sex, much to her boyfriend Keith’s exasperation. She will forsake all in the pursuit of her gradually darkening and desperate artistic vision.
After an interview with some feckless male producer/gatekeepers, she sets out to provide something authentic, with a likeable, strong leading female character – herself. Horvat manages to create someone who is entertaining, funny, self-involved, exasperating and finally rather chilling, as she takes the film industry and its vacuity to task in an engaging critique on the film world and the blinkered world of the auteur. The film, co-written with Chase Wiliamson is likeably caustic, its overt use of cameras working well. The audience are voyeurs in the pursuit of her authentic film: ground covered before in everything from Peeping Tom to The Last Horror Movie, but which gets a witty and dry outing here.
Horvat’s resilience works on meta-levels, both inside and outside of the film; likely to resonate with anyone frustrated by the film industry and ongoing gender politics, and making I Blame Society thought-provoking as well as often laugh-out-loud funny.
Released via VOD on Mon 19 Apr
words KEIRON SELF