The Film Movement December 2017 Film of the Month Club selection (which non-members can purchase) perfectly reflects both the spirit of Movement and the club. This quirky 2017 film about effectively a day in the life of incompatible Colombian adolescent siblings who must work together after accidentally transforming the titular ruminant into road kill plays out like an tubular '80s teen comedy.
The opening scenes hook you from the beginning as we see rookie actor Vincent Van Goat display wonderfully bizarre behavior that is atypical for his species. We further see enterprising teen boy Corn providing a valuable service fairly literally for pennies.
Corn arriving home leads to interaction to which many of us (including your not-so-humble reviewer who calls his sister The Wicked Witch of the West End) can relate; he begins shouting back-and-forth with his sister Rita and destroys a cassette in a fit of pique.
The adventure that gives "Goat" the aforementioned John Hughes vibe begins with the no-nonsense mother of these fools sending them on an errand for their family-run tourist hotel. The pair soon damage the family truck on accidentally killing the goat.
Corn and Rita next dump the body to avoid having anyone know what they did that summer; realizing that the dead goat actually is a cash cow prompts them to effectively dig up the grave and do a variation of "Weekend at Bernie's" in an effort to raise the money to repair the truck before their parents learn of things going amiss.
The adventures of the day include a "Monty Python" style encounter with a butcher, materialistic Rita embarrassing Corn in front of his Rastafarian friends, and a pawn shop owner putting Rita in her place.
The Hughes vibe is particularly strong regarding the encounter with the goat putting the psychopathic owner of that livestock on the trail of the teens. A scene in which Corn finds himself in the place of his victim is particularly hilarious.
The quirkiness continues right to the end as getting the goat of so many people fully causes the chickens to come home to roost for the squabbling siblings.
Movement does equally well regarding its practice of pairing main club titles with a bonus short film. The feature-worthy drama "Miss World" has a 31 year-old woman now living in America returning to Taiwan to escort her father to jail.
The 24-hours in the life of the woman is an intriguing character study of both her and the general challenges of being an adult child. We meet her the morning after a very rough night, watch a hilarious effort to get her father his favorite cake (no file) the night before he begins his unfortunate incarceration, see her have a risky one-night stand, and then try an almost literal 11th-hour effort to achieve a better mutual understanding with her father in 20 minutes of reel-time.
The Movementness of these films extends beyond their aforementioned indie flick quirkiness; they both tell universal stories that can be made word-for-word and shot-for-shot as a Hollywood film without losing an ounce of relevance or impact.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Goat" or "World" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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