tahnijnikitins (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tahnijnikitins) wrote2011-02-16 08:24 pm
tahnijnikitins) wrote2011-02-16 08:24 pm
Entry tags:
Par 6 (my attempt at a movie review)
On Saturday night at the Supernatural convention, a small group of fans stayed up late in the theatre for a three-movie-showing put on by Misha Collins’ charity RandomActs. The movies included My Bloody Valentine starring Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester on Supernatural), Friday the 13th staring Jensen Padalecki (Sam Winchester on Supernatural) and Par 6 with Misha Collins (Castiel).
I didn’t stay for Friday the 13th, and really my only goal was to see Par 6, being the Misha Minion that I am. He had talked about it earlier in the day, and from what I could gather, before Saturday night it had only ever been shown once, at a film festival. Saturday night was only the second showing of the movie, and if I understood correctly, the chances of it ever actually being released are slim to none (I’m trying to determine whether or not I was mistaken in that understanding, but am having no luck. I based this assumption on a comment Misha made about the movie in his panel: “…unless you were at a little film festival when it was shown you’ve probably never seen this movie” [paraphrasing, to the best of my memory]). Which makes me sad.
First of all, let it be known that I honestly did enjoy the movie, and not just for Misha Collins’ performance as a floppy-puppy kind of boy-next-door with a southern drawl and a familial eccentricity about him. And I didn’t just enjoy it for the shirtless-Misha-in-the-rain scene, either, though I certainly did appreciate that (once again paraphrasing, but to the best of my memory: “There is a scene in which I had to take my shirt off, and we’ll have to black that out for you, because you probably won’t be able to handle that much raw sexual magnetism”).
As far as I’m concerned, the movie was a genuinely good movie. It was quirky and odd, the kind of movie that tends to make me smile. When Misha was telling us briefly about it, mentioning that it was a movie about golfing, I was skeptical. I am, in no way, a fan of golf or golfing movies. But I wanted to see this Misha Collins movie simply because Misha Collins was in it, and I probably wouldn’t ever get the chance to see it again.
Well, the movie wasn’t necessarily about golf - at least not to me. Yeah, golfing was a big part of it, but at its core it seemed to be more about family and dreams, especially the family bonds and dynamics of a family which has always been known in its home town as being eccentric, if not down-right insane.
In the beginning of the movie we learn that golf is very important to this family. It’s the passion of the father figure, whose dream is to build the perfect golf course. When the father died without having accomplished this dream, the dream becomes that of one of his sons, Walt (played by Walter Olkewicz).
Though it’s not entirely clear how Walt ended up the way he did, when we first meet him in the movie he is bed-ridden by choice, claiming to have visions from a spirit instructing him and his family on how to build the world’s greatest golf course. His twin sister Pecan (Valerie Mahaffey) tends to him, and seems to have taken on the role of caretaker for the family. It would be an understatement to say that she, herself, is an odd one. She, too, claims to have had visions from time to time, but remains up and about, a bubbly character always striving to see the best in every person and every situation.
The other siblings are Mac (played by Nip/Tuck’s Dylan Walsh) and Al (Misha Collins). Mac, on one hand, has little to no faith in his family’s collective dream to build the greatest golf course and frequently discourages proceeding forward with the plans - though he continues to actively help prepare the land that had once belonged to their family to become this dream-course. Mac is also an amputee, missing one arm. On two separate occasions he is questioned about what happened. He answers once that it was the fault of great white sharks, and a second time that he “traded it in for a bigger dick.” To my memory, we never learn the true cause of Mac’s amputation, just as we never really know what in his life caused him to blossom into cynicism while his siblings continue to unquestioningly chase their father’s dream.
On the other hand, Al has full faith in the dream of his older brother and departed father, and is always eagerly waiting for instructions on what to do next. At the same time, he can be seen frequently struggling with feelings of inadequacy (in his introductory scene we see him trying to convince police officer Dour O’Dowel [John Carroll Lynch] that he can talk to him because his brother Mac is out working - he can help him just as much as Mac can, so why doesn’t Dour want to talk to him? It‘s a theme we see repeated with his character throughout the movie with a few different people, including Al’s love interest Jillie Anne [though it manifests in much a harsher manner with Jillie Anne and ultimately leads to one of my personal favorite lines from Misha: “I have placed myself close to the ground for your kicking convenience”]).
I enjoyed the interactions between all of the characters, though I do think I enjoyed the interactions between Al and Mac the most. There is one scene in particular that jumps into my mind - one that was strangely reminiscent of the episode of Nip/Tuck which Misha Collins guest-starred in, involving a general musing about whether or not it would be possible for a man to get his own penis into his mouth. It even included Misha Collins as Al bending over to determine whether or not this was possible - not unlike a certain Nip/Tuck scene in which Misha Collins is entirely doubled up with his legs over his head. I was entirely convinced that the scene was a nod to the work the actors had done together before, but have since learned that Par 6 was done several years prior to Misha Collins’ appearance on Nip/Tuck. In any case, it gave me a both a good laugh and a good squik.*
And, as you can probably tell, since I am massively fond of Misha Collins, I did enjoy his character the most. Al and Mac were by far my favorite characters - each character was, in their own way, a treat for the ex-psychology student inside of me, but these were the most interesting. In a way they were opposites - Mac determined that their family would break over an unreachable dream, Al eager to see the dream accomplished; Walt frequently “looking for an excuse to leave,” Al looking for a way to feel like a more integral part of the family. Yet they are seen frequently working together, both putting in the most work on the golf course, despite their differing views, and they seem to share the kind of bond that Pecan shares with her twin brother Walt (which we see Al on occasion observing with a certain jealousy). The lessons they each learn from the events depicted were interesting to watch develop, and sweet conclusions to each of their paths.
In the end, I thought everyone did a wonderful job. It was an enjoyable movie, including not only golf and visions from spirits, but games with Japanese business men, pagan fertility rituals, an “illegal and haunted” cactus that would steal your soul if you hit it with your ball, and a monument to the pipes of Pan built by Al. Though the viewer witnesses many miraculous occurrences in the movie, they are ultimately left to come to their own conclusions about whether Walt was truly in contact with spirits or a was man with an untreated psychological illness. It could be that the events depicted are a series of coincidences, or it could be that Walt was in contact with a spirit which, for some reason, wanted him to build the perfect golf course - a golf course that would bring those playing on it to a sort of nirvana. Or perhaps the spirit had an ulterior motive.
It was a wonderfully quirky dramedy, having all sorts of fun on the journey to the conclusion that it’s not so bad being a little crazy. If it has not, in fact, been released, I certainly hope to see it released at some point in the future.
* A new “word” I learned from my friend Dana. To be “squiked” is to be freaked out by/grossed out by or finding a general ickiness about something. Used in a sentence: “The idea of self-fallacio squicks me.”
I didn’t stay for Friday the 13th, and really my only goal was to see Par 6, being the Misha Minion that I am. He had talked about it earlier in the day, and from what I could gather, before Saturday night it had only ever been shown once, at a film festival. Saturday night was only the second showing of the movie, and if I understood correctly, the chances of it ever actually being released are slim to none (I’m trying to determine whether or not I was mistaken in that understanding, but am having no luck. I based this assumption on a comment Misha made about the movie in his panel: “…unless you were at a little film festival when it was shown you’ve probably never seen this movie” [paraphrasing, to the best of my memory]). Which makes me sad.
First of all, let it be known that I honestly did enjoy the movie, and not just for Misha Collins’ performance as a floppy-puppy kind of boy-next-door with a southern drawl and a familial eccentricity about him. And I didn’t just enjoy it for the shirtless-Misha-in-the-rain scene, either, though I certainly did appreciate that (once again paraphrasing, but to the best of my memory: “There is a scene in which I had to take my shirt off, and we’ll have to black that out for you, because you probably won’t be able to handle that much raw sexual magnetism”).
As far as I’m concerned, the movie was a genuinely good movie. It was quirky and odd, the kind of movie that tends to make me smile. When Misha was telling us briefly about it, mentioning that it was a movie about golfing, I was skeptical. I am, in no way, a fan of golf or golfing movies. But I wanted to see this Misha Collins movie simply because Misha Collins was in it, and I probably wouldn’t ever get the chance to see it again.
Well, the movie wasn’t necessarily about golf - at least not to me. Yeah, golfing was a big part of it, but at its core it seemed to be more about family and dreams, especially the family bonds and dynamics of a family which has always been known in its home town as being eccentric, if not down-right insane.
In the beginning of the movie we learn that golf is very important to this family. It’s the passion of the father figure, whose dream is to build the perfect golf course. When the father died without having accomplished this dream, the dream becomes that of one of his sons, Walt (played by Walter Olkewicz).
Though it’s not entirely clear how Walt ended up the way he did, when we first meet him in the movie he is bed-ridden by choice, claiming to have visions from a spirit instructing him and his family on how to build the world’s greatest golf course. His twin sister Pecan (Valerie Mahaffey) tends to him, and seems to have taken on the role of caretaker for the family. It would be an understatement to say that she, herself, is an odd one. She, too, claims to have had visions from time to time, but remains up and about, a bubbly character always striving to see the best in every person and every situation.
The other siblings are Mac (played by Nip/Tuck’s Dylan Walsh) and Al (Misha Collins). Mac, on one hand, has little to no faith in his family’s collective dream to build the greatest golf course and frequently discourages proceeding forward with the plans - though he continues to actively help prepare the land that had once belonged to their family to become this dream-course. Mac is also an amputee, missing one arm. On two separate occasions he is questioned about what happened. He answers once that it was the fault of great white sharks, and a second time that he “traded it in for a bigger dick.” To my memory, we never learn the true cause of Mac’s amputation, just as we never really know what in his life caused him to blossom into cynicism while his siblings continue to unquestioningly chase their father’s dream.
On the other hand, Al has full faith in the dream of his older brother and departed father, and is always eagerly waiting for instructions on what to do next. At the same time, he can be seen frequently struggling with feelings of inadequacy (in his introductory scene we see him trying to convince police officer Dour O’Dowel [John Carroll Lynch] that he can talk to him because his brother Mac is out working - he can help him just as much as Mac can, so why doesn’t Dour want to talk to him? It‘s a theme we see repeated with his character throughout the movie with a few different people, including Al’s love interest Jillie Anne [though it manifests in much a harsher manner with Jillie Anne and ultimately leads to one of my personal favorite lines from Misha: “I have placed myself close to the ground for your kicking convenience”]).
I enjoyed the interactions between all of the characters, though I do think I enjoyed the interactions between Al and Mac the most. There is one scene in particular that jumps into my mind - one that was strangely reminiscent of the episode of Nip/Tuck which Misha Collins guest-starred in, involving a general musing about whether or not it would be possible for a man to get his own penis into his mouth. It even included Misha Collins as Al bending over to determine whether or not this was possible - not unlike a certain Nip/Tuck scene in which Misha Collins is entirely doubled up with his legs over his head. I was entirely convinced that the scene was a nod to the work the actors had done together before, but have since learned that Par 6 was done several years prior to Misha Collins’ appearance on Nip/Tuck. In any case, it gave me a both a good laugh and a good squik.*
And, as you can probably tell, since I am massively fond of Misha Collins, I did enjoy his character the most. Al and Mac were by far my favorite characters - each character was, in their own way, a treat for the ex-psychology student inside of me, but these were the most interesting. In a way they were opposites - Mac determined that their family would break over an unreachable dream, Al eager to see the dream accomplished; Walt frequently “looking for an excuse to leave,” Al looking for a way to feel like a more integral part of the family. Yet they are seen frequently working together, both putting in the most work on the golf course, despite their differing views, and they seem to share the kind of bond that Pecan shares with her twin brother Walt (which we see Al on occasion observing with a certain jealousy). The lessons they each learn from the events depicted were interesting to watch develop, and sweet conclusions to each of their paths.
In the end, I thought everyone did a wonderful job. It was an enjoyable movie, including not only golf and visions from spirits, but games with Japanese business men, pagan fertility rituals, an “illegal and haunted” cactus that would steal your soul if you hit it with your ball, and a monument to the pipes of Pan built by Al. Though the viewer witnesses many miraculous occurrences in the movie, they are ultimately left to come to their own conclusions about whether Walt was truly in contact with spirits or a was man with an untreated psychological illness. It could be that the events depicted are a series of coincidences, or it could be that Walt was in contact with a spirit which, for some reason, wanted him to build the perfect golf course - a golf course that would bring those playing on it to a sort of nirvana. Or perhaps the spirit had an ulterior motive.
It was a wonderfully quirky dramedy, having all sorts of fun on the journey to the conclusion that it’s not so bad being a little crazy. If it has not, in fact, been released, I certainly hope to see it released at some point in the future.
* A new “word” I learned from my friend Dana. To be “squiked” is to be freaked out by/grossed out by or finding a general ickiness about something. Used in a sentence: “The idea of self-fallacio squicks me.”