If
soulless alien body-snatchers invaded ultra-hip Williamsburg, how could you
tell? The brain-controlled drones would probably be less conformist than they
are now. Todecky is the exception. He fondly remembers the Brooklyn nabe when
it was edgy and gritty, but he will still fight to save the trendy enclave from
extraterrestrial parasites in John Kingman’s Snatchers, which screens
(virtually) as part of the (online) 2020 Brooklyn Film Festival.
Todecky
is a Fed, but not for the FBI. He currently serves as an investigator for the
FDA, but his heart and wardrobe are old school Bureau, all the way. Obviously,
he does not fit in with the scenesters, including Brie, a supposedly aspiring
documentarian, who once interviewed him for an aborted GMO doc. Now she claims
to be working “undercover” as janitorial staff at a start-up, as part of a project
about immigrants that will never happen. She had no contact with Todecky since ghosting
him, but the two will be thrown together when mutant alien corn infects the
local food truck circuit.
The
corn in question came from fields cultivated by Mennonite farmers like Jeb. He
could tell there was something wrong about those ears, harvested after a meteorite
crashed nearby, so he returned to big sinful city to track them down. Todecky
doesn’t want to hear his alien talk, but they still join forces, along with
Brie and the two proprietors of a food truck that exclusively caters to fellow food
truck employees.
Snatchers
is
a very funny send-up of Brooklyn hipster pretensions and body-snatcher genre
conventions. Screenwriter Guy Patton must know the scene well to land so many direct
hits, but he still has enough emotional distance to show no mercy. This is
about as close as a freshly produced film is likely to come to politically
incorrect spirit of vintage Mel Brooks. There is also a little bit of gross-out
humor, but eye-popping practical effects were clearly not a priority.
Regardless,
Blaine Kneece scores big and consistent laughs as the cynical yet earnest
Todecky. It is a terrific, breakout turn that ought to take several levels up
in industry visibility. As Brie, Brielle Cotelo is a worthy sarcastic-romantic
foil, while Jason Kellerman plays Jeb with the right innocent likability to make
the “Amish Paradise”-style gags feel like we’re laughing with Mennonites rather
than at them.
