Buzzard (2014) - Joel Potrykus

Marty lives in Gran Rapids, Michigan, currently temping at a bank in the area, a job that Marty shows absolutely no interest in keeping.  Marty is lazy and has no ambition whatsoever, carrying out small-time cons in order to make money.  When Marty's most recent con involving cashing small value customer checks goes wrong, he becomes increasingly paranoid,  moving into his co-worker's basement in an attempt to hide.  Paranoid that he will eventually be caught, Marty hops on a bus to Detroit, armed only with a pocket full of small value checks, a monstrously modified nintendo power glove, and a bad temper.  Joel Potrykus' Buzzard is an outlandish black comedy and a pensive character study of one man's twisted rebellion from established society.  Buzzard is an observant film, following Marty's struggles, scams, and triumphs as he lives a life by his own rules.  This film doesn't have much to say on a thematic level but the way the film finds beauty in the grotesque is reminscient of Harmony Korine's Gummo.  Joshua Burge is unforgettable as Marty, giving a performance that feels incredibly authentic, as if he was simply playing himself.  Compelling and repulsive, Buzzard presents Marty in a way that feels more documentary than fiction, with punk-rock ferocity and subtle tragedy that is surprisingly transfixing from start to finish.  

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