Hello, welcome to The Gemsbok. Today’s topic is Red State, a 2011 film directed by Kevin Smith.
"BUT IF HE THOUGHT PEOPLE WERE DEPRAVED BACK THEN—WOO!
I MEAN, HIS HEAD'D NEARLY BURST IF HE SAW HOW WICKED THIS COUNTRY'S BECOME."
Kevin Smith’s personal anecdotes are routinely more entertaining to me than his comedic films.
"PRINCE, IT'S 3 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING IN MINNESOTA; IT'S JANUARY; AND YOU WANT A CAMEL.
THAT IS NOT PHYSICALLY—OR PSYCHOLOGICALLY—POSSIBLE."
I like his attitude, and I like his perspective, but I usually don’t like his writing.
"OUR LITTLE TRICIA HERE IS ONLY 15, BUT, UH, SOMEHOW SHE'S A SENIOR.
TRICIA'S COMPILING DATA FOR THIS BOOK SHE'S WRITING ABOUT THE SEX DRIVE OF MEN AGES 14 TO 30."
Even when his writing is not pandering to below the lowest common denominator
or disproportionately praising George Lucas’ weakest films, it is still generally a set of
superficial observations about malaise or adulthood dressed up as profound insight.
"IF TITLE DICTATED MY BEHAVIOR AS A CLERK SERVIN' THE PUBLIC, I WOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO SPIT WATER AT THAT GUY.
BUT I DID. SO MY POINT IS THAT PEOPLE DICTATE THEIR OWN BEHAVIOR."
Most of the time, of course, it doesn’t even rise to that level of intellectual masquerade,
as the comedy that dominates the majority of his projects—already
edgy and low-brow in its time—is in a style that has almost universally aged horribly.
"CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRLS... THE UNIFORM'S WHAT DOES IT FOR ME."
Smith has made romantic comedies like Chasing Amy and Mallrats that are neither romantic nor funny,
"IF YOU WERE A CAR, WHAT KIND OF CAR WOULD YOU BE?"
"THE KIND YOU NEVER DUMP YOUR BOYFRIEND IN."
and he has made action comedies like Cop Out and Dogma that are neither exciting nor funny.
"MAYBE WE SHOULD FIND OUT WHAT GOT THESE HOMBRES IN SO MUCH HOT SALSA."
But Red State, being by design in almost no measure comedic, is a curious case.
It’s the story of a group of teenagers’ run-in with a fanatical and violent Christian sect,
and it is almost entirely unique among Smith’s films. For one thing,
unlike nearly every other Kevin Smith movie, it’s quite good. It’s tense, interesting,
and there are only two or three minor actors who don’t give excellent performances. Further, it is
one of the minority of films in his filmography which do not take place in the meandering boredom
of his so-called ‘View Askewniverse’ (which is the cinematic universe that is forever plagued
by the perennially unlikable character Jay and his preferable partner Silent Bob).
"SHE'S A SLUT—BONG!"
Red State could be construed as a clumsy attempt at either an action movie or a horror movie,
but however you categorize it, it nevertheless succeeds as an engaging and worthwhile film.
"THEY COULD JUST ARREST US. THEY COULD PUT US ON TRIAL.
AND THEN THE ZIONIST MEDIA'D MAKE HEROES OUT OF 'EM."
A curious method was employed to write the script for Red State. Across numerous interviews,
Smith has consistently reported it. The original inspiration for the story is
fairly straightforward: Smith began writing a horror movie in the mid-2000s after viewing
uncut interview footage of Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps from the production
of the documentary Small Town Gay Bar. But from that clear premise, the resulting
screenplay took shape by holding tight to the principle that—if at any point Smith felt he, as a
hypothetical audience member, would likely be able to predict what was going to happen next in his
thriller, then the actual audiences that he was trying to surprise would be able to do the same.
So whenever he thought things were settling into a predictable rhythm, he would immediately and
sometimes drastically alter his plans: introduce a new character, reverse an established power
dynamic, or even change the genre of the film. The result is a movie that deftly skates around
viewer preconceptions regarding structure and plot, and (at least speaking for myself)
around preconceptions about Smith himself as a creator. Ultimately, this laudable outcome also
means that this is not a film that is likely to please a broad audience. It is unsuitable
for newcomers to the genres of horror, slasher, or action—and yet it is also unsuitable for more
seasoned viewers who prefer tightly structured or easily categorized work. Speaking as someone
who enjoys a broad array of both film genres and film structures, however, Red State is a delight.
Now, Smith has been careful to emphasize the importance of the actors themselves to
the final form of Red State, as he ceded to them an unusual amount of what would
have otherwise been directorial control over their performances, and wrote the character of
church patriarch Abin Cooper specifically with veteran actor Michael Parks in mind.
"IT MIGHT BE POLITICALLY INCORRECT. BUT THEY'LL TELL YA, 'THIS NATION AND THE WORLD HAS GONE TO HELL.'
THEY WON'T TELL YA WHY— CAN'T TELL YA WHY."
The consequence of actors controlling their parts is accountability, which results in most or all of
the cast members truly giving their all to present their characters with authenticity. And indeed,
even setting the exceptional work of Michael Parks aside, great performances abound in the film,
coming in especially from Stephen Root, Melissa Leo, Kevin Pollak, and John Goodman.
"HOW MUCH YOU THINK A CROSS LIKE THAT COSTS?"
"YOU MEAN IN DOLLARS, OR COMMON SENSE?"
But Smith’s influence as writer-director should not be downplayed too far,
however tempting that may be. Many of the most interesting details of the film,
after all, come from the writing, which comes across with a Burn After Reading-esque realistic irony.
"SO, WE DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT ANYONE IS AFTER?"
"NOT REALLY, SIR."
As in that Coen Brothers product, tropes are subverted and traditional movie
logic is the butt of some fairly dark absurdist comedy.
"OF COURSE WE'RE GONNA KILL HIM, JOE...
WE'RE GONNA KILL HIM WITH KINDNESS!"
What seems at first like it will be a
conventional slasher proffering preachy criticism of American evangelical Christian fundamentalists
somehow also ends up being a discussion of post-9/11 governmental abuses of power.
Smith’s writing of the aforementioned fanatical cult leader character should
also receive dedicated praise, as aspects of that character and his community have been confirmed
as accurate and familiar by former members of the Westboro Baptist Church.
"THAT WAS, UH—THAT WAS JUST SURREAL. THE STUFF HE WAS SAYING.
THE FACT, YOU KNOW, HE HELD UP THE FLYER, THE PIECE OF PAPER—
I MEAN, THAT—THAT IS MY GRANDFATHER TO A 'T.'
'MADE THIS FLYER THIS WEEK, SENT IT OUT. PUT IT ON THE FAX MACHINE.
WENT OUT TO EVERYBODY. GOD HATES—NEW ZEALAND!'"
The consistency of the beliefs of the various characters with their actions lends just enough believability to
the proceedings to keep the viewer disturbed.
"RAMPANT FORNICATION, ADULTERY, ABORTION, FLAGRANT SEXUALITY—IN EVERY CORNER OF MEDIA..."
Still, Smith’s instincts may not be entirely
praiseworthy here, as the film’s original ending (from an earlier draft of the script) would have
destroyed some of the film’s most interesting ambiguities. If you don’t mind spoilers or have
already seen the film, you can read a brief account of the originally planned ending on
the film’s IMDb page. For this reason, and in an odd resonance with Smith’s first taste of success
in the original Clerks, some of the film’s power can be chalked up to ‘art from adversity,’ as it
was ultimately the project’s rather small budget of $4 million that caused the original ending to
be dropped, a gaudy sequence intended to include a goat head to be reworked, and more.
Clearly, however, in Red State Smith had not exactly worked out a formula for late-career
success, as (between distribution troubles and sharply divided critical responses) the film floundered on release.
Moreover, sadly, the subsequent project that saw Kevin Smith and Michael Parks working together,
Tusk, ended up a disappointing mess.
"DO YOU LADIES KNOW WHERE BIFROST IS? UH, DUUUUH!"
In Tusk, what could’ve been a truly great
campy send-up of the body horror genre—which features an arguably superior performance by
Parks when compared to Red State, and which has the distinction of being the Smith film that has
by far drawn the greatest amount of audible laughter from me—
"IS MAN, INDEED,
A WALRUS AT HEART?"
is ultimately marred beyond repair by long sequences of
tone-destroying, pace-destroying scenes featuring one of the worst
performances of Johnny Depp’s entire uneven career.
"AND I SAY TO HER, 'YOU ARE THE MAMA AND YOU KNOW THE THINGS ABOUT THE CHILD.'"
So, perhaps with Red State everything just
aligned well. Smith picked the right subject matter for unflinchingly dark absurdity, did a
decent job with the writing, had any small errors corrected by genuine and professional actors,
and faced budget constraints that prevented complete hamming up of the plot.
It’s a film that takes so many twists and turns that you would expect to end up lost,
yet the scale of the film stays so small and grounded that the twists end up feeling like
taking four consecutive left turns on an otherwise straight drive. You may detour
through a number of unexpected neighborhoods, but you maintain a sense of forward momentum and you
reach a destination that feels appropriate.
"YOU GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY FOR GOD'S FORGIVENESS.
WHEN YOU GET DONE WITH THAT, YOU TAKE THIS—COME JOIN YOUR FAMILY UP FRONT."
I would like to close by clarifying that
I do not think that Red State is some kind of staggeringly incredible movie,
or that anyone should drop everything and go find a copy. It is not exceptional enough to
make me question in puzzlement how the involved writer-director could possibly have produced it,
as do some other films like M. Night Shyamalan’s early masterpiece The Sixth Sense. I certainly
do not think it’s as good a film as Burn After Reading, despite the vague similarities mentioned earlier.
Red State is hindered by a few inelegant twitches toward Smith’s trademark comedy in what is meant
to be a serious movie, poorer performances by some of the younger actors, and an aimlessness
through the lengthy climax scenes which harms those scenes’ intended tension. (It is,
unfortunately, the middle third of the movie that includes the highpoint of the film’s tension.)
Due to these issues, Red State would probably be the one of the worst films in the career of a
great writer-director. But instead it seems to me to be far-and-away the best film in the career of Kevin Smith.
It is interesting, entertaining, and mostly very well-acted.
If this matters to any of you, it was one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite films of 2011.
And it is my favorite Kevin Smith movie (with a distant second-place tie going to the
amateurish but commendable Clerks and the deeply flawed but highly memorable Tusk). So,
if you can stomach a lot of cynicism and a lot of blood, it is well worth a watch.
"YOU MIND TAKING THE CHILDREN OUT NOW FOR THEIR LESSONS? 'CAUSE IT'S, UH...
GONNA GET GROWN UPPY IN HERE."