Geekscape Movie Review: Entrance
Living in Los Angeles, you get stuck with this breed of people we call “hipsters.” They’re six shades of awful toting around oversized Raybans and ugly sweaters with the occasional neckbeard and, honestly, there’s this trend for one-size-too-small pants that the guys rock that isn’t remotely flattering.
So when I put in IFC Midnight’s Entrance and saw that it revolved around events in what I’m certain must be the hipster capital of the world, Silverlake, I cringed. No, no, no, I thought, please, no. I want to like this movie.
Suzy (Suziey Block), a young woman in aforementioned Hipsterville, moves about in a mind-numbing routine of feeding her dog, applying make-up, and working in a coffee house. But there’s something a little off about her. She’s nervous, twitchy, unhappy, and more than a little isolated even though she lives with one of her friends. Instinctively she knows that there’s something out there, something that’s not right at all.
Her instinct is definitely on the mark. Little things begin to happen, easily dismissed, but they still keep her a bit high strung. As the movie builds, she retreats from the incoming danger, only to find that it brings it that much closer with crazed aggression.
At first, the movie is choppy, disjointed. Feels an awful lot like Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, save that it manages to stay in chronological order. The camera is shaky and obviously tripod-less when she goes for her walks through the city, which annoyed the hell out of me, but I was eventually able to accept the bobbling of the view.
As the movie progresses, I was strongly reminded of the recent horror film, Silent House, starring Elizabeth Olsen. That particular movie’s gimmick, much like Hitchcock’s The Rope, was to appear as though they had shot it in a continuous take. The camera never leaves Olsen’s side.
It’s much like this for Ms. Block. The camera almost never leaves her and, not only that, but the takes are insanely long. It’s amazing watching the product of what had to be strenuously worked through choreography between the camera man and Block, and having this constant input of only seeing what Suzy sees and her reactions to said stimuli is incredibly intense.
This movie is definitely worth seeing so, if you’re like me and carrying a hefty amount of hipster-disdain, leave it at the door and enjoy this lovely film.
Entrance can be found in theaters, on IFC Midnight Cable VOD, SundanceNOW, iTunes, Amazon Streaming, XBOX, and Playstation Unlimited on May 18th.
