Courting Chaos February 2014

Day one at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival:

My mom and I walked Beverly Boulevard to the New Beverly Cinema. We saw the feature which won Best Comedy Film, “Courting Chaos”; by New Zealand director Alan Clay. It’s the story of Ginger, who is beautiful and lives with her overbearing mother, who’s relentlessly trying to force her into a modeling career, acting as her manager. But when Ginger starts hanging out with a group of street clowns on Venice Beach, she becomes inspired to become a clown herself and begins taking lessons from Chaos, a talented clown who Ginger has a thing for.

It was a great film, very well done in pretty much every aspect. Excellent acting, every character is well-written and fun to watch. Some great comedic moments, and what feels like a true insider’s peek into clown culture. I never got bored or felt like the film was too long or slow, it kept me engaged all the way through and had plenty of laughs and fun scenes to keep things interesting. Not too many cliches, aside from the overbearing mother who wants her daughter to be a model cliche, but they did it incredibly well and the relationship between Ginger and her mother ended up being one of my favorite dynamics of the story.

Another favorite element to the story is the way the protagonist must connect with her own fears and flaws on a much deeper level in order to be able to perform well as a clown. She learns that being a clown isn’t as much about being funny as it is about being honest.

I really enjoyed the film and would recommend watching it. It’s funny, unique, and emotionally satisfying. On a 1-10 scale, I’d give it: 9

Full review at: http://aberrantfilms.com/2014/02/12/hriff-day-1-courting-chaos-short-films/