Pat Mill's feature debut, Guidance, is a dark comedy centered around David Gold, a former child star who lives a life of debauchery, drowning his sorrows in a sea of booze. After getting fired from his current job, due to showing up to work drunk, David's financial situation becomes even more desperate, which leads him to fabricate his credentials in an effort to work as a High school guidance counselor. Very much in the vein of raunchy dark comedies like Bad Santa, Pat Mills' Guidance is a film that intentionally pushes the envelop, finding dark humor in the massive short comings of its main protagonist. The film features a comedic and sharp script with lots of outlandish comedic moments, but what makes Guidance work is it's nuanced examination of a character who is afraid to be himself. Helping various students through means that are certainly not ideal, Guidance slowly reveals in David a man who is in deep denial of his homosexual orientation and health issues. Due to faded success as an actor, David is a character who blames the world around him for his shortcomings, but through the relationship he develops with one of his students, a character who herself suffers from low self esteem, David slowly turns his life around. While i would definitely argue that the back half of the film loses some of its subtlety and nuance, being a little to obvious in its message for my liking, but it doesnt devaue the film's overall sucesses. Ehile not a particularly impressivr film from a direction or cinematography perspective, what Guidance may lack in artistry it makes up for in charisma, as Pat Mill's manages to make a deeply troubled character in David likeable on charisma alone. While I wouldn't say Guidance is a game changer or profound by any means, Pat Mill's has delivered a charming, funny film thats message of valuing oneself is certainly felt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|