I almost gave up on this and stopped watching at the 20 minute mark (and to put the gravity of that statement into perspective for you, out of the gazitrillion movies I watch this actually happens only purple times), but it's really awesome that I didn't because this film kinda evolves, and by the end of it you're all like whoa, Neo styles.
Even though the humour misses more often than it hits, it comes with so much vigour and so much charm that it really doesn't matter. This one out Terry Gilliams Terry Gilliam, and it does it on a measly 1.5mil budget. It's a damn shame the people behind it couldn't pull together some fatter stacks because seeing this one realized without those limitations would have turned out to be a special treat indeed.
So basically a bunch of crazy people come into an asylum, and it's like, the best asylum there ever was. But there's only one spot available, and so they must compete for admittance. Whatever you're thinking of right now, the movie is nothing like that.
And like, allegorical metaphors and shit! I really really wanna share my theories so you can appreciate how clever I am, unfortunately my jurnalistic integrity prohibits me from spoiling it. Suffice to say the film does a wonderful job of building up to a perfect catharsis. After sitting through so many up to interpretation open ended bananalities that this beloved genre of ours seems so ubiquitously fond of, it was a nice surprise to see this one get tied off so beautifully. Mmmm, delicious payoff cake. I tire of filmmakers expecting me to do their writing for them.
Another reason I ended up falling in love with Asylum Seekers is that it is completely unapologetically batshit far out there crazy. Like, so far out there that if you were to go out to meet it and look back, we'd be just a tiny dot. And it does all that without shame, without the need to justify itself or to cushion the blow, which is something I always really appreciate in a film. Crank. I think I'd like to rewatch Crank. Anyway.
The cool thing about these mental patients (besides the fact that they're performed wonderfully) is that they're so easy to identify with. The cyber lolita who is so infatuated with technology that she wants electricity to run through her veins was a particular favourite, not only because of the immediately obvious correlations between her and myself but also because I couldn't help but start thinking about transhumanism and I got so engrossed that I chainsmoked three cigarettes after having seen this film.
I liked her so much that I didn't even care when she made a quip about Quake III needing watercooling, and usually I am such a stickler for that kind of thing in my media. Oh, do go on, tell me how you're going to track that IP. Ugh. I do hope they write that shit intentionally. What was I saying? Oh yeah, likable characters. That's good.
And I don't even think think that film was at all about transhumanism, or maybe it was, what the fuck do I know.