Early this year, Patrick Brice’s The Overnight made waves at Sundance for being one of the festival’s most perverse and hilarious offerings. Now that everyone can see the film via iTunes or Redbox, you can all see for yourselves just how much of a good time this is. Not only can you now see The Overnight, though, but the wave of attention the director is receiving has unearthed another gem of his: Creep, a quaint found-footage horror film from 2014 that is now getting an official release. Though they may belong to opposite genres - Creep being horror, Overnight being dramedy -, the two films actually parallel in many ways. With both movies around eighty minutes long, I think we may have the perfect double feature on our hands. Before I compare the features, breaking down the strengths and weaknesses they both share, let me give you a quick rundown of both films.
In Creep, Aaron (Brice, the director) finds himself following around a strange man named Josef (Mark Duplass) after answering a vague Craigslist ad. Josef claims he is dying and that he wants to document himself teaching his infant son how to do things, sort of like that Michael Keaton movie. As increasingly weird and off-putting as Josef becomes - he reveals to Aaron that he hid and took pictures of him before they met -, Aaron (sort of) keeps his cools and continues to plays along. I will not give away any secrets, but the film plays with an extremely worn genre - found footage - in surprising and subversive ways.
The Overnight follows recently re-located Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling of Orange is the New Black) as they try to make new friends in their new home of Los Angeles. At a children’s park, they run into Kurt, a super hip fellow-parent played by Jason Schwartzman. Pleasantries are swapped and before you know it, a dinner date is arranged. What follows is one of the most outrageous double dates ever filmed (sometimes to a fault). After dinner is served, the kids are rushed to bed and the bong comes out. Drinks are poured, pot is smoked, suggestive videos involving breastmilk are watched, and so on and so forth. Before you know it, Kurt and Alex, both baked, are skinny dipping and dancing naked - prosthetics of all sizes are used. Despite an outlandish premise, the film is surprisingly down to earth when it comes to honest emotions.
That is a quality shared by both films. Wipe away all of the bizarre elements of both films and what you get is a series of fascinating conversations between authentic people afraid of exposing their emotions. The first halves are superior in both movies, all because they rely more on conversational interactions. Before the actual “scary” stuff kicks in with Creep, we watch Aaron and Josef just walk and talk for the most part. We suspect Josef is a little crazy and is making up a lot of details, but that does not make him any less sympathetic (at first, anyways). Kudos to Mark Duplass for making Josef feel real from the beginning.
The same goes for Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche, who plays Kurt’s wife Charlotte. Scott and Schilling, though their performances are just as thrilling, have more conventional roles; whereas the roles of Kurt and Charlotte require a certain a grounding that not every actor can pull off. Schwartzman, a master of these far out roles, keeps Kurt’s feet planted to the ground like a pro, showing his exposed nerves in the most unexpected of places. If there is one thing Patrick Brice has proved with these two films, it’s that he can nurture and conduct outstanding work from his actors.
While both Creep and Overnight are constantly watchable from beginning to end, both films begin to run out of steam as they go on. And that is strange, seeing as how both stories grow progressively insane. Maybe this is the cause: Brice’s entirely human characters can not inhabit a narrative that requires slightly supernatural characters. Taking a couple relatable characters, not unlike you or I, and having them dance in a wild wolf mask or a massive penis prosthetic will undoubtedly yield some strange/terrifying/hilarious results, but it will also detract from the emotional climax of the film. It’s a game of give and take that Brice will hopefully get better at as he makes the next move in his career. Whatever he does, you better believe I’ll be watching.
(Available on iTunes)
In Creep, Aaron (Brice, the director) finds himself following around a strange man named Josef (Mark Duplass) after answering a vague Craigslist ad. Josef claims he is dying and that he wants to document himself teaching his infant son how to do things, sort of like that Michael Keaton movie. As increasingly weird and off-putting as Josef becomes - he reveals to Aaron that he hid and took pictures of him before they met -, Aaron (sort of) keeps his cools and continues to plays along. I will not give away any secrets, but the film plays with an extremely worn genre - found footage - in surprising and subversive ways.
The Overnight follows recently re-located Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling of Orange is the New Black) as they try to make new friends in their new home of Los Angeles. At a children’s park, they run into Kurt, a super hip fellow-parent played by Jason Schwartzman. Pleasantries are swapped and before you know it, a dinner date is arranged. What follows is one of the most outrageous double dates ever filmed (sometimes to a fault). After dinner is served, the kids are rushed to bed and the bong comes out. Drinks are poured, pot is smoked, suggestive videos involving breastmilk are watched, and so on and so forth. Before you know it, Kurt and Alex, both baked, are skinny dipping and dancing naked - prosthetics of all sizes are used. Despite an outlandish premise, the film is surprisingly down to earth when it comes to honest emotions.
That is a quality shared by both films. Wipe away all of the bizarre elements of both films and what you get is a series of fascinating conversations between authentic people afraid of exposing their emotions. The first halves are superior in both movies, all because they rely more on conversational interactions. Before the actual “scary” stuff kicks in with Creep, we watch Aaron and Josef just walk and talk for the most part. We suspect Josef is a little crazy and is making up a lot of details, but that does not make him any less sympathetic (at first, anyways). Kudos to Mark Duplass for making Josef feel real from the beginning.
The same goes for Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche, who plays Kurt’s wife Charlotte. Scott and Schilling, though their performances are just as thrilling, have more conventional roles; whereas the roles of Kurt and Charlotte require a certain a grounding that not every actor can pull off. Schwartzman, a master of these far out roles, keeps Kurt’s feet planted to the ground like a pro, showing his exposed nerves in the most unexpected of places. If there is one thing Patrick Brice has proved with these two films, it’s that he can nurture and conduct outstanding work from his actors.
While both Creep and Overnight are constantly watchable from beginning to end, both films begin to run out of steam as they go on. And that is strange, seeing as how both stories grow progressively insane. Maybe this is the cause: Brice’s entirely human characters can not inhabit a narrative that requires slightly supernatural characters. Taking a couple relatable characters, not unlike you or I, and having them dance in a wild wolf mask or a massive penis prosthetic will undoubtedly yield some strange/terrifying/hilarious results, but it will also detract from the emotional climax of the film. It’s a game of give and take that Brice will hopefully get better at as he makes the next move in his career. Whatever he does, you better believe I’ll be watching.
(Available on iTunes)