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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Winner of WORST SUBTITLES award
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In 1998's "2 X 4" (2 BY 4), the writer/director Jimmy Smallhorne plays Johnnie Maher, an immigrant Irishman who works as a foreman for his uncle's construction company in the Bronx (NY). His coworkers, friends, and (it seems) neighbors are also all recent Irish immigrants, who spend their day working at non-union cheap labor, and their nights drinking, singing (badly) Karaoke and doing cocaine. But Johnnie has some deeper problems, manifested in terrifying nightmares, that hint of something in his past he is trying to repress. This is one more problem which his girlfriend Maria has to deal with, besides the fact that Johnnie admits he has also had bisexual experiences.
The good news: The film won a prize at Sundance for cinematogrpahy, and I have to admit the photography is generally very good. Unfortunately, the acting is poor, the direction beyond awful (and Mr. Smallhorne can be blamed for most of those two), with very sloppy continuity (For example, there are three scenes throughout the film where Johnny is walking into the front door of his apartment building, and the building is different in all three!)
Last, but far from least: The film dialogue is in English, with English subtitles. (No, that's not a typo. Got that?) The *really* bad news is that the subtitles are often needed, since the actors (with the exception of Chris O'Neil, who plays Uncle Trump .... Trump, a construction company in NYC, get it?), besides all having heavy Northern Irish accents, rarely project their voice loud enough to be heard or speak clearly. And this definitely wins my award for WORST SUBTITLES in any film EVER, since they are rarely coordinated with what is actually being said on the screen (More often then not, they are a full 5 seconds early or late), they don't separate character's dialogue (If three people are talking, their dialogue is COMBINED on the screen, with no indication who is who), the subtitles include dialogue or lyrics being heard on a radio or TV (which has nothing to do with the movie) and, at one point, the subtitles included numbers which are likely used by the director to time scenes in editing. The final touch: the subtitles CANNOT be turned off, so you HAVE to look at them!
Some simulated sex scenes, but no nudity below the waist. No DVD extras beyond scene selection. Believe me, the 2 out of 5 stars is quite generous. And it is a shame, as the story could have been told a lot better.
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2x4 movies, videos.