A Preview of the Film Patsy
Directed by Anton Jarvis and Starring Brett Golov & Christine Lakin
Sep 25, 2009
Patsy is a quirky, low budget indie film, currently doing the rounds of the festival circuit. But its relative obscurity is not going to last long, because word of mouth is fast marking Patsy out as a hot ticket. This first time feature from production company 11: Eleven Pictures is already garnering comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite, The Big Lebowski and even Memento from IMDb reviewers. How cool is that for a film most people haven’t even heard of yet?
Patsy - What’s the Story?
Patsy follows the story of a schizophrenic Palm Beach shop owner called Lenny Rose (Brett Golov). His world is turned upside down by the arrival of a girl called Patsy (Christine Lakin). Where she has come from, or even whether she truly exists at all or is just a figment of Lenny’s disturbed imagination, is unclear. But that’s what makes Patsy so much fun, and keeps its viewers guessing.
Lenny is surrounded by an array of oddball characters. His sarcastic doctor (played by Reg E. Cathey, last seen as smooth talking Norman Wilson in The Wire), and his friends Skip (Ryan Matthew) and Carl (Michael DeLuise) are all absolute gems. Carl, in particular, provides some real belly laughs, in what’s already been noted by several reviewers as a total homage to John Belushi. DeLuise’s Iron Man impression alone is worth the ticket price!
Brett Golov and Christine Lakin
Brett Golov, as Lenny, is far more understated. As the backbone of the film, Golov is responsible for portraying his character in different, distressing states of mind. His lucid performance draws the audience into his world, despite the absurdity. It’s a commendable achievement. Similarly, his opposite Christine Lakin as Patsy manages to embody an impressive amount of different emotional states, depending on which strand of the story we happen to be following. Because, although it is a funny film, Patsy demands a certain amount of attention to detail. This is where the comparisons with Memento come in. It is up to the viewer to piece together all the snippets of information, as it is drip fed to them, and reach their own conclusions. Ultimately, no-one can tell you what Patsy is, you will have to see it for yourself. Oh no, hang on a minute. That’s The Matrix, isn’t it?
Forthcoming Film Festival Showings of Patsy
If you weren’t lucky enough to catch Patsy at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, Muskegon Film Festival or the Hollywood Gone With the Film Festival, then look out for the film at the Tacoma Film Festival on Friday 2nd October, 2009.
Otherwise, just keep fingers crossed it will make it to a festival nearby soon, and go support indie film-making as it really should be done.
Further Reading: Readers may be interested in this article about Quirky Foreign Films, or this review of another oddball indie comedy Eagle vs. Shark.
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