Slug Magazine Film Critic Jesse Hawlish Reviews LOWbASiC

LOWbASIC
Slamdance Film Festival
Director: Frank Rinaldi
It makes me happy that filmmaker Frank Rinaldi understands the importance of Story. I’ve watched many a short at Slamdance 2010. Although I’ve enjoyed nearly all of them (a difficult position for a critic), any displeasure I feel comes from Experimental Films that are, to put it glibly, 100% experiment and 0% film. Funny Guy, Rinaldi’s previous short, received the Slamdance 2009 Grand Jury Award for Best Experimental Film. His films, while undeniably experimental, manage to provide just enough character and plot to instill empathy in the viewer – allowing for greater emotional payoff during the less rational material. LOWbASIC is a hallucinogenic collage of corrugated anxieties, truths, and emotions, folded over colorful, lo-fi visuals. It’s also about two men in a band who have a strong but troubled relationship. In composing this non-linear narrative, Director Rinaldi is adept at creating and dispelling anxiety, making LOWbASIC an engaging, emotional experiment.
-Jesse Hawlish

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