Alienated: a Trufer Learns the Truth is Out There

Ever wondered what it would be like if Edward Albee wrote an episode of The X-Files? Maybe something like this. Nate’s wife does not want to hear his crazy UFO talk. Frankly, she is mostly done listening to him altogether. Unfortunately, he just might be right this time. Communication is a challenge and intimacy breeds contempt in Brian Ackley’s Alienated (trailer here), which opens this Saturday in Los Angeles.

As a 9/11 conspiracy theory nut, Nate is so unappealing, even the aliens probably won’t want to abduct him. Eventually, we will learn why Paige is so justly exasperated with Nate, but during the early going, we can just assume it is because he is a lazy, immature man-child. Evidently, Nate is easily distracted by things, like specious engineering claims and the UFO he thinks he filmed on his camcorder. Paige is not inclined to take whatever has his so fired up seriously, which leads to a “fine, I won’t show you,” passive aggressive snit. Yet, somehow their blind neighbor Griffin understands exactly what is going on in the skies and in their bedroom. Just when sighting reports start to creep into the local newscast, Nate and Paige finally start to really have it out—and it will be more brutal than an alien probing.

In some ways, Alienated is not unlike Richard Bates, Jr.’s Trash Fire, except Ackley completely downplays the genre elements in favor of the scathing relationship drama. In each film, the troubled couples know exactly what to say to hurt each other, which they will do without reservation. In this case, Ackley’s dialogue is much less sarcastic, but it leaves even more blood on the floor.

Watching Jen Burry and George Katt go at it as Paige and Nate produces mixed, vacillating reactions. Sometimes their commitment is absolutely awe-inspiring, but as the effect accumulates, it sort of makes a viewer want to rip their face off. Still, you cannot be lukewarm in your response. However, as Griffin, the late Taylor Negron (a scene-stealer in 80s comedies like Better Off Dead and Young Doctors in Love) is eerily mystical without ever going over-the-top. Something about his too infrequent scenes ring weirdly true, evoking memories of odd encounters with awkwardly straight-talking strangers (or the times you have decided to unload a random truth-dump, if you happen to be that guy yourself).

Alienated can be uncomfortable to spend time with, but the integrity of Ackley’s approach is impressive. He somehow he also manages to maintain a sense that something cosmically ominous is about to happen just outside our field of vision. The evocative alien art seen with the openings credits greatly helps establishing that vibe right from the start. Recommended for those who appreciate extreme chamber dramas, Alienated kicks off a week-long release this Saturday (4/16) at the Acme Theatre in Hollywood.

Trufer Doc: New World Order

Don’t be these guys. Even if you believe the Bilderberg Group is secretly plotting to take over the world, just chill out and take your meds. Otherwise you might wind up in a documentary like Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer’s New World Order (trailer here), which opens theatrically in New York this Friday.

NWO represents a weird confluence of political extremes, encompassing Democracy Now viewers and Ron Paul voters, who insist those airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers had nothing to do with the World Trade Center’s destruction. They also live in fear of the Bilderberg Group, a publicity-shy annual conference of world economic and political leaders, who evidently are bent on ushering in the ominous “New World Order.” The resistance’s leading spokesperson and DVD mail-order salesman is Alex Jones, a radio personality based in Texas.

Neel and Meyers follow the documentary strategy Barbet Schroeder employed with Idi Amin and attorney-for-terror Jacques Vergès, letting their subjects damn themselves with their own words, but the results in New World Order are decidedly mixed. Some trufers (obsessive 9-11 conspiracy theorists) do indeed say embarrassing things, like the Irish-Turkish filmmaker Timuçin Leflef, who jokes about having a chip in his head. There are also scenes of what can only be interpreted as galloping paranoia when Jones is hot on the trail of the Bilderbergers. The silver luxury car behind them is obviously a tail and the fire alarm in his hotel clearly must be an attempt to stop him from calling into a colleague’s radio show. Right?

However, Neel and Meyers never directly question the deceptive claims of Jones and company, like their dubious metallurgy debunked by Popular Mechanics. Of course, it is hard to debate these conspiracy theorists. As NWO documents, they tend to demonize their critics as either idiots or stooges of the evil overlords.

Frankly, NWO is most damning when it reveals how sad most of its subjects truly are. Seth Jackson seems to be a young man of genuine Christian charity in his Katrina relief work, but has alienated himself from mainstream society, pursuing a lonely life of trufer activism. Idaho-based survivalist Jack McLamb, a decorated veteran of the Phoenix police force, has also let his activism take its toll on his health. (To be fair though, having witnessed the Federal assault on Ruby Ridge first-hand, McLamb has a right to be paranoid.)

The scariest aspect of NWO is that its cast of characters continues to attract a following. Unfortunately, the film never explains why. It just keeps the camera rolling as they yell and scream. While at times revealing, NWO frustratingly never delves too deeply beneath the surface of trufer mania. It opens Friday (5/22) in New York at the Cinema Village, ahead of its IFC Channel premiere on May 26th.