By Robert Scucci
| Revealed 1 hour in the past
In each single one in every of his films, Neil Breen portrays a tragic hero with godlike powers who takes it upon himself to save lots of the world from itself by means of mystical, inexplicable talents that most of the time make no sense. 2016’s Go Via clings to this formulation and makes for an entertaining look ahead to followers of outsider filmmaking.
Whereas most Breeniacs like myself would level to 2005’s Double Down and 2012’s Fateful Findings as his best works, Go Via just isn’t with out its appeal. However be warned, as a result of it’s additionally one in every of Breen’s most disjointed items in his complete filmography, and that’s saying so much.
“The message is just too highly effective to be captured on movie.”
Right here, we’ve got an ominous floating crimson dot that serves no actual goal, a tiger that often reveals up within the Nevada desert for causes by no means defined, and cans of beans littering the panorama. Corrupt insurance coverage, financial institution, and media “presidents” overtly lay out their plans to be corrupt and immoral, however Neil Breen’s Thgil (gentle spelled backwards), an extraterrestrial AI lifeform despatched to Earth to make it a greater place, is right here to save lots of the day.
It’s No Double Down, However We’ll Take It
Like most Breen joints, Go Via is rife with sprawling desert pictures, ramshackle sound design, and preachy monologues in regards to the state of the world and the way Neil Breen, carrying his best Canadian tuxedo, is the one being in existence who can usher in a brand new age of enlightenment. Self-satisfaction apart, we get a large number of a narrative that begins with a bunch of anonymous immigrants packed into the again of a truck and carted off to an undisclosed location by enforcers who’re imagined to spherical them up and ship them again to the international locations they escaped from.
Via Breen’s narrations, we be taught that he’s an AI lifeform from a far-off galaxy despatched to Earth particularly to eradicate 300 million “unhealthy folks” by means of an excellent cleaning. The issue is that in his human kind, he turns into a heroin addict who sleeps in rubbish when he’s not consuming canned meals in his trailer house. He befriends Amanda (Kathy Corpus) and her niece, Kim (Chaize Macklin), who’re reluctant to stick with him in his trailer regardless that he claims to be “the longer term,” after completely rounding up his rubbish to make his house extra welcoming.
In the meantime, a boy astronomer (Abraham Rodriguez), two lady astronomers (Taylor Sydney and Taylor Johnson), and their wheelchair-bound professor (James D. Smith) head out to the desert in the hunt for a glowing crimson dot that appears like a damaged pixel in your display, however seems with goal regardless of that goal by no means being correctly spelled out.
One way or the other, all of those separate storylines converge when Thgil takes over a information broadcast to let all the human race understand how primitive they’re, and once more when he reveals up at a mansion to inform varied authorities officers and trade presidents that they’re corrupt. Shortly thereafter, CGI explosions burn within the background as Neil Breen walks away from the wreckage with out ever wanting again.
Not One Of The Classics, However A Departure Level
Whereas Go Via is distinctly a Neil Breen movie, it pales compared to its predecessor, Fateful Findings. That movie is rooted in company espionage, authorities secrets and techniques, and dozens of laptops getting destroyed as our hero vows to show the corruption operating rampant on this world.
All the identical trappings of self-importance and disgust with the trendy world are nonetheless there, however Go Via fails to stay the touchdown as a result of there are just too many transferring elements. For a movie that individuals like me actively search out as a result of it’s so laughably horrible in each conceivable approach, there’s a definite lack of appeal right here, and I can’t fairly put my finger on what’s lacking.
If Neil Breen had been a musician, Go Via could be his departure album. He’s been to the desert and to far-off galaxies by bending area and time as we all know it on a number of events. That is the final movie he shoots totally on location earlier than turning into a grasp of the inexperienced display with movies like Twisted Pair and Cade: The Tortured Crossing, so what we’re seeing right here appears like an artificially clever being struggling to achieve his closing kind by means of standard means. The message is just too highly effective to be captured on movie. At the least that’s the narrative I’m going with.
For those who’re a fan of Neil Breen’s work, Go Via is crucial viewing. Simply know that it’s not his best hour. To witness what Breen calls a “visionary, revolutionary movie which pushes the human species to the bounds of controversial, thought-provoking actions,” you may be taught extra about it on his web site.
