Friday, June 19, 2009

Fan Made Batman Film: Ashes To Ashes

Click Here to visit the Ashes To Ashes movie website. It's actually a really nice website.

This is a fan mad Batman film. It's interesting and worth watching. However, just to warn you, there are a few exceptionally disturbing scenes and if it's something you don't think you can handle then I would recommend not watching the video.



If the video doesn't work, just visit the Ashes To Ashes website to view the film.

Film noir is typically one of the more interesting and artistic forms of film out there. It takes full advantage of the use of color, lack of color and light. It was such a dark story and I felt very sick inside through most of the film. It was as if I was watching someones worst nightmare brought to life on my computer screen. Without a doubt, I was taken by complete surprise with this film

The plot didn't exactly make sense to me. Now I think part of that is because the film is in French and the English subtitles would disappear before I got a chance to read through the whole sentence. But I also felt the script was so strange and twisted that it became incomprehensible. Apparently, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman out of vengeance for the murder of Alfred, his butler. Eddie, who murdered Alfred, worked for the penguin (which I didn't quite understand why the Penguin made that brief three second cameo) and the Joker didn't like what Eddie did so Harley was sent to act as if she loved Eddie and lure him to the Joker. Batman finds Eddie, with gouged out eyeballs, and the Joker ready to play with Batman's mind. I think that's what was going on, but I wasn't entirely sure.

The acting was very peculiar. I'm not sure I understood why 90 percent of Batman's lines were of him screaming. The man that played the Joker did a fairly decent job and played it very dark and sinister like, with some humor as well. The story did an even better job than the the film "The Dark Knight" did in bringing out the twisted nature of the Joker. However, the story was a little to dark for even my tastes. They utter and brutal slaughtering Commissioner Gordon's baby while Joker had intercourse with Harley was way too much for me. I did watch the whole scene, but I was about ready to skip through that.

The Joker in this film was all about causing chaos with no reasoning for it. This did not help the story at all, and might have actually hurt it.

I do appreciate the artistry that went into making the film despite the twisted nature of the script. From looking at the photo stills, and watching a little of "The Making Of" video, I can see that this film wasn't just a random set of events with no purpose. The film makers took a haunting script and turned it into something quite beautiful.

Now while I'm watching this, I'm reminded of of other great films like Sin City or The Spirit and I see where they possibly got their inspiration from. However, they also made it very unique in their own way.

Overall, for a fan made film, I would say it was well done. Probably one of the better ones I've seen, very artistic and a lot of thought was put into making it. But it's not something I'll want a steady diet of, nor do I think anyone should get a steady diet of this type of film. Seeing it once was enough for me. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good, artistically made film, but it's not an easy film to watch by any means.

6 comments:

  1. Definitely a bit over the top with the sex scene but the visuals are just amazing - Penguin and Harley especially. Would be cool to work on a project like this (albeit a toned down one)!

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  2. This probably won't mean a lot to you but, CalArts would love this film. Experimental projects is what CalArts is all about. This script didn't make sense to me...which is also very common at CalArts. Maybe it would have made more sense to me if I had read the comic books (although you do and you didn't completely understand it either). I thought it was a well done film, but I had a lot of trouble ever getting into it.

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  3. Well continuity is not something you have to worry about with this film. Batman's origin is different in the film than in the comic book, as is his connection to alot of the characters.

    I think the script, as my review would imply, is so out there that it ultimately becomes one big literary mess.

    But yeah, show it to your Cal Arts buds and see if they enjoy it.

    Wasn't it twisted though? I think I'll have nightmares from the joker!

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  4. I guess it was twisted...I really wasn't that disturbed by it.

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  5. I just found a link to these movies on Twitter. Some people have a lot of time on their hands..?

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMAVV3kvSEU

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