I decided not to go to the movie festival on Sunday after all. I had planned to go, but I didn't really want to make the trip there for one movie when I have things I need to get done around the house. Nothing against the festival itself. I believe more people showed up this year than last, but the theater still felt pretty empty at times. If they keep having these festivals held there, I'm hoping more people will show up. It deserves it, you know? The second film that I watched on Saturday was called Crazy Fat Ethel (2016). Douglas Conner, who plays Charles, and Dixie Gers, who plays Ethel, was on hand to introduce the film and answer some questions after the screening.
Ethel (Dixie Gers) has been in a mental institution for years now. After attacking another woman there and complaining about being raped by a pair of orderlies, Aunt Joyce (Jenny Coulter) decides to take her in. Some feel that Ethel shouldn't be released but the doctor there allows it because Ethel is blackmailing him thanks to the rape. At around 300lbs, all Ethel wants to do is eat. Not long after being home, Ethel orders some food from the grocery store only to discover that she doesn't have the money to pay for them. When confronted about it, Ethel kills the lady that brings the food. A detective (William Allen Nugent) is assigned to the case and he questions Ethel since she could have been the last person to see this lady alive. He can't prove anything, but he suspects Ethel knows more than what she is letting on. Will he be able to stop Ethel before she kills again?
Crazy Fat Ethel was written and directed by Brian Dorton. This is a movie I had not heard about before, which was no real surprise to me. When someone else posted about it though, they got a few replies from people saying how much they loved it. I was a little surprised by this because I had the opposite reaction. I didn't hate Crazy Fat Ethel or anything like that. I guess I was more annoyed by it than anything. The biggest thing for me was that there wasn't much of a plot going. The start of the film was interesting, but once Ethel goes back home, I didn't feel there was much of a plot anymore. Ethel is free and thinks about revenge against the two orderlies, but it the story is mostly just Ethel getting mad at someone for any reason, mostly over food, and then killing them. She rarely even needs to leave the house to do so. The detective was pretty much useless here. He comes around a couple of times and only the last time does he seem like he could be a threat to Ethel. The music was also something that started to annoy me. Every time Ethel does something bad there is music that sounds like someone pushed a bunch of keys on a piano. When she looks at someone in an angry way. The camera zooms in on a knife. There is that same music cue. It happens so much that it just became annoying to me. There are at least a couple of dream sequences that I thought were pretty interesting. I also liked some of the characters. There was a good range of different kinds of characters here.
The effects are a mixed bag. Some of them are pretty cool and gory, while some didn't impress me all that much. One had to do with a wine bottle. While we don't actually see the effect, just what happens, it was still a bit shocking. We also see Ethel rummage through someone's insides while she looks for something. I wasn't sure what she was looking for at first because it either happened so quickly or it happened off-screen. It was a scene I probably would have gone back to, but I can't do that at a festival. There was one scene where Ethel raises a butcher knife and the person falls. It didn't look to me like she hit him with it, but we then see him all bloody on the floor. That was an example of an effect I didn't like. The acting was really good at least. Dixie Gers won the Best Actress award at the festival which was well deserved. I also liked most of the supporting actors as well. Not everyone was great with their acting, but nothing was so bad to take me out of the scene.
Crazy Fat Ethel was interesting in seeing how far Ethel would allow her appetite to control her. I suppose I might kill if it came down to it, but that would only be if I had nothing to eat for a long time...as in days. Something interesting that I learned during the Q&A after the screening. At one point we see Ethel puck up a road kill and walk off with it. Someone asked if that was real or fake and it turns out that it was real. Gers said that Dorton and she drove around for a while until they found some road kill and then filmed the scene. I'm not sure I would do that for a film. While I wasn't crazy about this movie (See what I did there?), I can't say that I hated it by any means. Since I seem to be one of the few that didn't like it a whole lot, perhaps you should consider giving it a try. They were selling the DVD at the festival, so it is possible to find it. Give it chance if you can find it.
2 out of 5 Road Kill does make the best meals
Ethel (Dixie Gers) has been in a mental institution for years now. After attacking another woman there and complaining about being raped by a pair of orderlies, Aunt Joyce (Jenny Coulter) decides to take her in. Some feel that Ethel shouldn't be released but the doctor there allows it because Ethel is blackmailing him thanks to the rape. At around 300lbs, all Ethel wants to do is eat. Not long after being home, Ethel orders some food from the grocery store only to discover that she doesn't have the money to pay for them. When confronted about it, Ethel kills the lady that brings the food. A detective (William Allen Nugent) is assigned to the case and he questions Ethel since she could have been the last person to see this lady alive. He can't prove anything, but he suspects Ethel knows more than what she is letting on. Will he be able to stop Ethel before she kills again?
Crazy Fat Ethel was written and directed by Brian Dorton. This is a movie I had not heard about before, which was no real surprise to me. When someone else posted about it though, they got a few replies from people saying how much they loved it. I was a little surprised by this because I had the opposite reaction. I didn't hate Crazy Fat Ethel or anything like that. I guess I was more annoyed by it than anything. The biggest thing for me was that there wasn't much of a plot going. The start of the film was interesting, but once Ethel goes back home, I didn't feel there was much of a plot anymore. Ethel is free and thinks about revenge against the two orderlies, but it the story is mostly just Ethel getting mad at someone for any reason, mostly over food, and then killing them. She rarely even needs to leave the house to do so. The detective was pretty much useless here. He comes around a couple of times and only the last time does he seem like he could be a threat to Ethel. The music was also something that started to annoy me. Every time Ethel does something bad there is music that sounds like someone pushed a bunch of keys on a piano. When she looks at someone in an angry way. The camera zooms in on a knife. There is that same music cue. It happens so much that it just became annoying to me. There are at least a couple of dream sequences that I thought were pretty interesting. I also liked some of the characters. There was a good range of different kinds of characters here.
The effects are a mixed bag. Some of them are pretty cool and gory, while some didn't impress me all that much. One had to do with a wine bottle. While we don't actually see the effect, just what happens, it was still a bit shocking. We also see Ethel rummage through someone's insides while she looks for something. I wasn't sure what she was looking for at first because it either happened so quickly or it happened off-screen. It was a scene I probably would have gone back to, but I can't do that at a festival. There was one scene where Ethel raises a butcher knife and the person falls. It didn't look to me like she hit him with it, but we then see him all bloody on the floor. That was an example of an effect I didn't like. The acting was really good at least. Dixie Gers won the Best Actress award at the festival which was well deserved. I also liked most of the supporting actors as well. Not everyone was great with their acting, but nothing was so bad to take me out of the scene.
Crazy Fat Ethel was interesting in seeing how far Ethel would allow her appetite to control her. I suppose I might kill if it came down to it, but that would only be if I had nothing to eat for a long time...as in days. Something interesting that I learned during the Q&A after the screening. At one point we see Ethel puck up a road kill and walk off with it. Someone asked if that was real or fake and it turns out that it was real. Gers said that Dorton and she drove around for a while until they found some road kill and then filmed the scene. I'm not sure I would do that for a film. While I wasn't crazy about this movie (See what I did there?), I can't say that I hated it by any means. Since I seem to be one of the few that didn't like it a whole lot, perhaps you should consider giving it a try. They were selling the DVD at the festival, so it is possible to find it. Give it chance if you can find it.
2 out of 5 Road Kill does make the best meals
