Relaxed paced, quirky comedy from
the director of popular action shorts 'Broken' and 'Red Princess
Blues'. “This is Meg' follows the daily trials and tribulations of
a comedian on the fringes of the acting realm looking to book new
gigs. Jill-Michele
Melean plays Meg and her style
and script provide the life of the film.
She
interacts with and meets with several emotionally and mentally
diverse characters. The impatient casting director, who seems to care
less about the audition she is doing.
Her
agent is berating, condescending and decidedly Jewish haha. She chats
about Meg's social media and scoffs at her list of Facebook, saying
what do you have My space to0? She asks her manager for a bite of her
food and she says no saying 'you look boxy.” Also she says 30 is
the new 50, and basically continues to insult her which is rather
hysterical.
A
wispy and rather annoying yoga instructor tries to um calm her
nerves, after and auspicious start romancing her friend Eric.
Debra
Wilson of Mad TV comes in and I swear I thought it was lead singer of
Skunk Anasie at first. Her character Sasha is entertaining and
animated, obviously with way more experience in emoting. She chats
about this mythical love drug Ayahuasca, a tropical root known for
hallucinating properties. Debra handles the daunting dialog with
ease, and her interaction with Meg is perhaps one of the better
scenes in the film.
Having
seen documentaries on the use of Ayahuasca the journey Meg and her
cohorts take turns weird and silly, with nonsensical gyrations.
Actually I did not think this entire scene length was necessary
unless used to lengthen the story. It goes on far too long, A 2-4
minute interlude would have sufficed.
After
that scene we are given a glimpse into how she adapts. She ends up
auditioning with the same casting person again, but with the improv
she does amazing. Thus the story roles on in the life of Meg a
struggling comic looking to make a splash in the pool of Hollywierd!
The
technical aspect of 'Meg' is great with the talents of Alex Ferrari.
He not only uses great camera angles to film his subjects, he manages
to capture their facial expressions so detailed that the characters
do not even have to speak to display emotion. 'This is Meg' is clear,
loud, and a verbal wonderland of subtle humor. The lighting on the
drug induced sequence conveyed a real sense of mania. The entire
sound and editing department is also to be commended for the efforts
as well with tight cuts and clear audible dialog regardless of the
actors vocal volume. A great effort for such a small budget, makes
the film very watchable.
Overall I liked 'Meg', but for the drug induced silliness this would have been an even better flick. 'This is Meg'
rates a solid 7 out of 10. The film is a festival darling, and should
find a home market in the comedy genre crowd. Watch for Krista Allen,
and Joseph David Reitman in some hysterical moments as well. The over the top crazyness of comic Lahna Turner and her pasty wearing sexy self is a salacious sight to behold!
Check
out the film on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/thisismegfilm/
Alex
does a very cool and informative podcast on the trials and
tribulations of indie film making called Indie Film Hustle check it
out! https://www.facebook.com/indiefilmhustle/
