Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain Representing schizophrenia on film is almost impossible. As is any mental illness. It's the job of the actors and directors to capture the essence of the disease. Kerrigan gives us one of the greatest studies in mental illness. He manages to dispel the myths of such diseases, by representing the protagonist as dangerous, but no more so than a "sane" person. Peter causes the most harm to himself, as his paranoia inspires acts of self- mutilation. Kerrigan takes a generic, cop looking for killer plot, but gradually subverts the genre. The sound design is also incredible, creating a confused and hectic mind, like a radio trying to tune in. It isn't your average film, and so requires patience and an open mind.

adrian chan This is a small indie by Lodge Kerrigan made in 94. Kerrigan's recent film Keane was astonishing (as was Damian Lewis). Like Keane, this film features a genuinely real and captivating performance by an actor playing a schizophrenic. The film's movement is fragmentary, roped together by a soundtrack that reveals the voices we might suppose are echoing within our character's unbound mind. His actions are confusing to him, and make us increasingly reluctant to watch, as watching makes us complicit with what he does, which is bad.The use of sound in this film practically makes it worth watching in its own right, pun intended. In the critic's video essay that accompanies the Criterion release of this film, which is pitched to grad level film students (and that's not a complaint), Michael Atkinson remarks that the director uses "objective" sound, not "subjective" sound. It's true that the sounds that fill the film's soundtrack are given us from the external world, often through the protagonist's car radio and sometimes simply through the ether. But I'd disagree with Atkinson. I don't think this is just use of objective sound to a parallel the film's fragmented and "subject-less" subject and narrative. Yes, it's a different use of sound, but it's a complication of subjective sound, not a departure from it. After all we hear the soundtrack, and therefore we can't but believe that the subject hears them. The use of sound here is interesting, I think, because the protagonist is not hearing them but producing them. We're given the sounds as he hears them, but they echo and resound within his schizophrenic mind, as they are the schizophrenic's world. Voices unattributed, perhaps real, perhaps recollected, but certainly not sounds that anchor the schizophrenic to reality. Rather, sounds that divorce him from the world, catching him as abruptly as an unexpected blow to the head. Short, sharp, shocks that knock about and bring into consciousness commands, put-downs, and other forms of verbal punishment that trouble us for their detachment. We don't know who's saying them. Which means we don't know why they are being said, which means (as Atkinson notes), we don't know what to think of them.Where Atkinson hangs these sounds on a reel of film though, my sense is that they should be hung on memory, which is not a reel of film, is certainly subjective, if not multiply subjective, and is not objective in the slightest for the simple reason that memories can't be. Our schizophrenic protagonist's relation to sound is that he's caught in a compulsive listening, but cannot hear. The coup in Kerrigan's sonic genius, I think, is that in memory is the protagonist's pain, and it's a pain he suffers, often, without making the slightest of sound. But for the one that we hear.

Echotraffic Clean, Shaven opens up like many other movies which have tried to deal with schizophrenia: a lonely character, completely disconnected from the world, struggling with the non-controllable impulses caused by this mental disease. Not very original, I'm afraid, and we are left with the feeling of watching the beginning of a one-shot movie that we already know we'll dislike. Fortunately, that happens to reflect only the beginning. After about half an hour (yes, somewhat of a long starter), Kerrigan finally tells us that what we are going to witness is not that basic story everyone could read in so-called scientific magazines about schizophrenia. We are going to witness the psychotic mess from an internal perspective. Which turns the movie into one of the most painful experiences one could ever have. It's not really the acting or the direction, but the atmosphere which sparkles through the whole movie. Some closed, dust smelling, suffocating, awe inspiring and degenerated surrounding. Some infinitely violent scenes will bring you to these hidden mental places in which you'd rather die than lay. This is where the exquisite part of this movie remains (for lack of a better word). Whereas Spider or Fight Club depicted much more the external vision of schizophrenia, Clean, Shaven goes directly to the point: how difficult is it to be schizophrenic? You'll see that the movie is very noisy, some really disturbing noises, as if you were going through the same disease. As Funny Games directed by M.Haneke is purported to make you feel what psychopathy is. The result is the same: you'll end up exhausted, nauseated and perplexed. Some will end up fascinated. But you'll end up richer, either way.

cicerobuck Allright, it's not in the same category as Preminger, Lang, Ford or Reed, but still, this is an incredible use of sound, music, actors and minimalist camera action... If Bresson was American, he would maybe not even top that! The only movie that stands comparison to this one would in my opinion be Philip Ridley's The Mirror. Try to see it in a movie- theatre, then buy the tape or the DVD... Just watch the scene when the cop realizes he had it all wrong, the final ghostly scene with the daughter and the radio, the scene between Peter Greene (could it get better? maybe not even William Fichtner!) and his mother at the table. So much, so much... Clare Dolan (Kerrigan's second film) was great (opening credit sequence!), but maybe less scary.