Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: KRAZY HOUSE [Sundance Film Festival 2024 - Park City, Utah]
"Krazy House" [Midnight] wants to be many things from a subversive track on Christianty to a concept of Americanism bathed in an idea of a nuclear family exploding onto itself to a horrific idea on the thought of loss of control because of what a doctrine dictates. Nick Frost as Bernard Christian is of course a perfect embodiment to play the lead because he understands what he is doing and what the character himself is saying. Now whether or not it does it in all the right ways or it just begins to take its concept into its own surrealist idealism is the intention of the directors. It works at times but many times does not. Of course one cannot helps but see the inspiration in the TV show within the film of "Natural Born Killers" specifically in the idea of Rodney Dangerfield's character. But unlike that character, Bernard here is fighting to understand why and control his rage. His son and daughter (Gaite Jansen and Walt Klink) are sheltered textures of who they really are underneath which just require a small bit of nudging to place them in the shadow.
The explosion of reality or unreality that comes into their would-be sitcom (the first half of the film is actually shot specifically in that style) iw a trio of Russians coming to fix their house after a water main breaks. These characters bear an interesting resemblance to the nihilists in "The Big Lebowski" in many ways. Again the artificial reality is meant to egg this on and show Bernard's crumbling facade. Alicia Silverstone as Bernard's professional wife has the ability to make the most of sitaution and while you see Silverstone dig in at certain points, one was hoping that she would begin a context of emasculation of all involved letting loose her rage. It doesn't quite go that way and the show within a show perspective is used in many ways to the max to subvert this.
That is not to say that there isn't some interesting cinematic textures here. The Dutch directors here throw everything but the kitchen sink (actually the bathroom sink) at the proceedsings. But the reality of what it is satirizing is slightly off. It wants to be edgy but borders and crosses into cringy at certain points. The notion of family but also the extremity of its comeuppance is both rooted in the dogma it wants to make fun of and what it is actually showing. Frost makes the most of his intention, even switching accents on purpose at one point. Now is the idea that every family creates or lives in their own Krazy House just barely holding theirlives together true? Maybe. But the Lynchian/Stone imagery here feels empty even within a staunch anti-establishment viewpount which is aptly said by Frost towards the end speaking of one's "nature". C+
By Tim Wassberg
