|
fan review by patsy
Where oh where do I begin on this one lol! This movie is something else!
It took me a few times to warm up to it. I first watched it with Mary my neighbor at that time when it came to DVD in 2005. A year before, it was an audience hit at Sundance, and I can't argue it's pretty original, not to mention edgy and dark!
This film went right where "The Method" went wrong...an edgy horror and suspense thriller with twisted sex and violence. But where "Method" turned into a bumbling mess with terrible editing, "Paranoia 1.0" ended up being very clever, edited perfectly to avoid too much confusion (it does get a little confusing, but I believe it's intentional to keep you on your toes). "Paranoia" has a moral to it, another thing "Method" failed to provide.
Jeremy Sisto gives the best performance of his career here. The only thing that might be better is his later work in "Six Feet Under" and "Kidnapped". Another thing I loved (and sure you will too) is that he is on screen the entire movie. This is Sisto's film (Even in "This Space Bwtween Us" he is not on screen for every single frame) without a doubt. Simon Jay is a beautiful complex character, imbued with warmth, goodness, sadness, and that damn lovely fragility.
My favorite scenes are those Simon Jay has with Howard (Lance Henriksen of "Aliens") and Trisha the mysterious nurse. Actually I like all the characters, even Nile, who you don't really know until the very end. I also liked Dirk the man with the robot-head for a son, and the neighbor who created the porn-games.
The plot is that Simon Jay keeps getting boxes delivered to his house, and when he opens them, there is nothing, just an empty box. He is addicted to milk and drinks it in binges, as though milk was booze and he is a drunk! After he gets a lot of empty boxes, he begins to suspect that someone is watching him and wants to hurt him, so he gets more and more paranoid. He gets sicker and sicker and begins to wonder if his neighbors are playing tricks on him. The rest I'll leave for you to watch.
I recommend it as an excellent work of Sisto's. It may take a while for you to get what is going on, but it's worth it if you're patient!
|
