Suzy
is carless in LA. That is about as
depressing as it gets. Frankly, she
might as well let her psycho-stalker kill her, if she really has one. Regardless, there is something seriously
amiss with her life in Dallas Hallam & Patrick Horvath’s Entrance (spoilery trailer here), which opens a
week of late night screenings at the IFC Center tonight and is now available
via IFC Midnight’s VOD platforms.
Suzy
has a nice pad and her roommate Karen’s friends have accepted her readily
enough. Yet, she has yet to make any
deep human connections in LA and her barista job is profoundly
unfulfilling. There is something wrong
with this picture, but we cannot determine if it is because of Suzy or someone
around her.
Initially,
Entrance sets off every mumblecore
alarm bell, depicting Suzy’s workaday life in mind-numbingly repetitive
detail. However, there are occasional what-the-heck-was-that
moments that should not be ignored.
Hallam & Horvath are steadily inching towards something and it is
rather shocking precisely because of the time we have invested in the
scrupulously ordinary characters.
Actually,
there is nothing commonplace about Suziey Block’s performance as Suzy (with the
more conventional spelling). Quite
attractive in a real world way, she withstands the co-directors’ harsh
close-ups, vividly portraying a woman on the verge of an ambiguous
breakdown. While the deliberately grubby
DIY style might put off some viewers, most will find themselves caring about
the increasingly alienated protagonist, despite her frequently problematic
nature.
Hallam
& Horvath shrewdly use the LA setting, but not necessarily with love. Instead, it represents an isolating,
compartmentalized environment. The city
also attracts a lot of sketchy types. There
is indeed a reason why Entrance is
being released as a Midnight special, but explaining why would give the game
away.
