Multi-hyphenate son of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Jack Henry Robbins, has decided to go down the experimental route with his new film VHYES.
It’s the late 1980s – and a young boy, Ralph, has been given the use of a VHS tape format camera by his parents to have fun with. Inevitably, he uses whatever tapes have been used for recordings, including the one of his parents’ wedding and decides to record whatever he can get.
As things progress, he records all manner of programming of the time, be it a supernatural drama, WITCH OF WEST COVINA, a sci-fi sex yarn involving lesbian aliens with Swedish accents, an ANTIQUES ROADSHOW programme called WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS?, which is more about an old school bully taunting an his old foe who has become an antiques expert with a toy he nicked from his youth – and a variety of other elements.
However, his obsession with the camera starts to yield unwitting side effects and surreal experiences that impact on his creative desires….
The concept of VHYES is not a new one – indeed anyone who saw the recent horror anthologies V/H/S and V/H/S 2 will recognise the style and format of what Robbins is trying to do here. You can also go back to the likes of unformatted content like LOOSE SHOES and KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, where a seemingly unrelated montage of sequences and sketches are pieced together. The tone of the film seems to tap into the likes of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and VIDEODROME.
Now, that is all very well if you have got a sense of form and structure that joins the dots together. Unfortunately, the increased randomness of the content within the seventy-one minute length begins to grate at times and doesn’t yield the right outcome or pay-off that this type of film demands.
This element was something that V/H/S and V/H/S 2 did attempt to do by layering five stories that remained linear with the constant switch and switch-back between the narratives they respectively had. Even so, the constant change in focus off-sets your involvement in the characters or narrative.
VHYES seems to come across like a mish-mash of offbeat clips, some of which might have been more enticing in the era this film is set in at a time when home entertainment in the modern era was in its’ infancy.
The style has also emerged in the likes of many a video clip show on TV and was exploited to hilarious effect by the late Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones in their classic BBC show, ALAS SMITH AND JONES, during one running sketch throughout in which a family would use their camcorder to record various misadventures that went beyond the daring at times.
I have got not issue with Robbins’ talent here – I am sure that he has other interesting stories to tell and given the award-winning talents of his parents, who have already more than proved their worth with films like DEAD MAN WALKING, THE PLAYER, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and THELMA & LOUISE, a variety of films that have passed into cinematic history for one reason or another.
Fans of the VHS home viewing days of movies will find this endearing at least, but today’s younger generation might find it a little radical and distancing, coupled with the fact that we have had umpteen retro found-footage style yarns over the last 20 years from BLAIR WITCH onwards.
However, given time, the film may find a cult following down the line.
