User Reviews

From the film's abrupt first frame, farcical mise-en-scène from South Carolina filmmaking duo Chris and Emily White, Cinema Purgatorio seamlessly transports movie-goers from the audience's familiar, optimistic and comfortable side of the silver screen to the dark, occasionally vicious, back-stabbing and frustration filled terrain of independent movie-making, an ego-blistered nest inhabited by imperfect personalities known as "filmmakers;" fallible and occasionally eccentric dreamers whose first thought upon waking is most likely concerned with how to make and finish their next film.

Mainstream audiences may be surprised to discover movies are not menu items ordered from Hollywood film factories for same-day delivery to the local multiplex. Before any film can begin there must be a vision, and before the vision must come a hopeful player willing to fill the role of the filmmaker. The long road from concept to premiere is choked with production pot holes, career land mines and control compromises, and it is the Herculean task of the independent filmmaker to oversee, nurture and shepherd his or her project through to completion. Obviously, completion in itself does not guarantee financial, critical or career success.

Few Hollywood films turn out to much resemble the screenwriter's initial concept, which explains why independent films hold such an allure for aspiring filmmakers. But while the lowly independent filmmaker may occasionally benefit the most from an individual project's success and parlay an individual success to the Hollywood big leagues, more often than not it's the resource-poor filmmaker who pays the heaviest ... and most personal and enduring ... price for failure.

A 2012 study suggests that while fewer than 10% of Hollywood releases show a profit, only .1% of independent films will recoup their cost of production. Given these emotional perils and the financial risks inherent in the filmmaking business, the general question "Why are so many films so bad?" better becomes "Given the obstacles and the stress involved, how can anyone expect to make a good film and have his or her film earn widespread distribution?

Stepping back and looking at the odds of success makes us wonder who in their right mind would willingly submit themselves to the inevitable frustrations and disappointment ... not to mention the angst and despair ... of committing themselves to producing an independent (i.e. non-Hollywood) film?

Cinema Purgatorio pushes the movie-making curtain aside and presents a comedic look at the sausage-making process whereby stories are conceived, ideas are hatched, scripts brought to life by actors, individual takes are filmed by cinema-photographers, voices are captured by sound recordists, scenes are edited and movies are assembled from hundreds of hours of tapes to finally become a feature-length 90 minute film. Through this tedious process personal relationships will sour, financial investments will spoil, egos will shatter, dreams will vanish, promises will be broken and careers smashed and abandoned. Cinema Purgatorio takes us there to see all of it.

The focus is not the processes and arcane mechanics of movie-making, however. Cinema Purgatorio unflinchingly shares the "life processes" of the individuals involved in the process, the producers/writers/directors and the actors and the crew members whose combined spirits coalesce into an emotional momentum pugnaciously advancing the film from uncertain dream to opening night.

No need to recount the film's truly funny scenes, or to describe the zany characters or to re-hash specific punch lines: see the movie and find out for yourself instead, because the actors quickly engage us in the quirky characters and in the sometimes exigent circumstances responsible for bringing their uneven lives together. Eric Barnhart's remarkable original score deserves special mention, as does the selection of scenic locations in Charleston and Folley Beach, South Carolina.

SPOILER ALERT ******************************** tab down to next row of asterisks to skip the SPOILER AHEAD Several reviewers have described the film's characters as likable. I have to disagree, particularly regarding the character of Neil's wife, Liz. In O. Henry's short story "The Gift of The Magi" the poor young couple make mutual, secret sacrifices to selflessly surprise the other with Christmas gifts. But Liz's unilateral action is of a different nature entirely.

Return from Spoiler Alert ************************************************* Cinema Purgatorio succeeds in colorfully depicting the filmmakers' creative cleansing ... the penance of enduring career frustrations, financial uncertainties, creative despair and spiritual hopelessness, the inexplicable randomness and perpetual wheel spinning ... the "purgatorio" ... intrinsic to the pursuit of filmmaking ("cinema") perfection. Its gaggle of disparate characters ultimately discover the healing power of love and the aegis of grace essential for surviving tribulations with spouses, children, ex-lovers, peers and even enemies and the occasional buffoon, too.

And that makes Cinema Purgatorio essential viewing.