A lot of love has been given to Jen and Sylvia Soska in the “independent” film press. Their debut feature, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, has been much lauded by those “in the know” (the film even being compared to early Tarantino & Rodriguez), so it was with great anticipation that I sat down to watch their movie. Well, by the time one of the characters actually begins to lay out the theme of the film by speaking it aloud, I was ready to tap-out. Then, when the bookish girl takes her glasses off and swirls her hair to entice a man, I actually groaned aloud. So, ok, the script is cliché and tries too hard, but how is the rest of it? The acting… well, it’s… it’s all pretty bad. The thing is though… the sisters are smart enough to cast a lot of their extras from real people which gives the sundry characters a little more believability by default. The sisters themselves, however, are in WAY over their head - acting-wise. They also don’t know shit about human anatomy & trauma. Film score? Don’t get me started (most of it is jarring and out of place). Cinematography? It’s all shot handheld, so bring your Dramamine. But ok… LAWRENCE OF ARABIA this isn’t. So, by now, I’m hoping to get maybe some comedic value out of it. Well, I will say this… the girls know how to shoot a fun little shoot-out scene (once you set aside any idea of probability or logic). However, these little islands of excitement soon become almost too much of a good thing. It’s like The Sisters have little else up their collective narrative sleeves. So, yeah… don’t believe the hype on this one, kids. I’m sure The Sisters future films will be better as they’re now running in cooler circles (and thereby have access to bigger budgets). Rentable for when you’re folding laundry and/or to just add it to the list of films you’ve seen.
Other than that...
Rating: 2 out of 5
~ Thom Carnell
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