It Is Fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!

It Is Fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE!!! ***1/2

Directed by Crispin Glover
Written by Steven C. Stewart

Starring:
Margit Carstensen as Linda Barnes
Bruce Glover as The Ex Husband
Lauren German as Ruth - Girl in wheelchair
Carrie Szlasa as Karma Barnes
Steven C. Stewart as Paul

74 Minutes(Not Rated)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crispin Glover's "It Is Fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!" is the stuff nightmares are made of. A horror film written on such a personal level that it isn't the killer element that is scary, but the mental breakdown and mental torture that our main character went through in real life that is creepy. Glover returns to New York City's IFC Center to present his new film, and those who read this blog may remember my trip last February to IFC Center to see Glover's first film in his trilogy "What Is It?" For those who want to have their minds refreshed, click here for that review.

"What Is It" was made in 2000-2001, and was completely made from money made from "Charlie's Angels." Luckily something good came out of that horror of a movie. Filmed and made with actors that mostly had Down Syndrome, "What Is It" was made as a way to get people prepared for "It Is Fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!", written by a man named Steven C. Stewart, who has an appearance in the first film. The third film in the trilogy, "It Is Mine," has not been made yet, but will feature Glover as a main character.

This movie stars Stewart as a man named Paul, living in a nursing home and suffering from cerebral palsy. One day he falls out of his wheelchair, and goes into a fantasy world where everyone can understand him despite the audience having problems doing so, him being a complete ladies man, him being able to be with women with long hair (his secret fetish), and of course, killing the women after intercourse and then having sex with their dead bodies. Yes, you read that correctly. The film is based on Stewart actually having to live in a nursing home in his 20's after the death of his mother-and it turned out in the end that the nursing home used for the bookended scenes of this film were actually shot in the same nursing home that he managed to eventually escape from. Stewart actually died shortly after the filming of this movie, and never got to actually see the finished version-much shorter from the original script for time constraints.

Glover actually said at the post screening Q&A that he felt if he never got to make this film he would have felt like he did something wrong with his life-and he felt that bringing this personal story to the screen ended up being what he says may be the best film that he has, or ever will, been able to work on. This film is a world different from "What Is It?" and this one certainly has that extreme personal level inside of it. You watch it with a mixture of horror from what you are watching, amusement because of the graphic levels it goes, and also an amount of sadness, especially if you know the back story. This film has a bigger structure than "What It Is?" focusing on a plot for the first half before turning into a nightmare ala David Lynch.

One thing is for sure-Crispin Glover is one of the most imaginative and best working independant film makers around. Many directors who like to shoot interestingly done films seem to make these messes that end up not making sense, or just being self-indulgent messes-like "Southland Tales." But Glover manages to make unique films with such personal agendas that are there in every single frame. Whenever I see him act in something horrible-something like "Epic Movie" for one-I am going to applaud him and hope that he does more, because the money from those films end up funding these great projects of his.

Before the screening, Glover did a presentation of his Big Slide Show-where he does dramatic tellings of 8 of his books-if I remember them all-"Concrete Inspection," "Rat Catching," "A New World," "The Backward Swing" (which he has a film version of that will soon be ready, "Round My House," and three others that have escaped my mind. This is the second time I've sat through the Big Slide Show, and for some reason-maybe its the second time, or maybe it just because I've been through lots this year film wise-but I got more out of it this time. This program at IFC was really a brilliant three hours, and I hope Glover will be back in the future for his next films-ones that I will look forward to with heightened anticipation. He really is a true talent-whose films are nightmares and dreams for viewers all at the same time.