College students that are over-sylized and over-sexed.
| Described as trippy, entertaining, and very funny, "Kaboom" is actually just a very stylized version of the college-aged sexual exploration. It gets interesting when it mixes sex with a thriller plot, but colour-coating over-sexed college students doesn't make them anymore profound. | | 2010
Directed by: Gregg Araki
Screenplay by: Gregg Araki
Starring: Thomas Dekker |
Every shot has a colour filter to make sure that every scene is either blue, or pink, or yellow. Multi-coloured lights blur out definition in the scenery, and background sets are either in soft focus, or all black, or bright white. It's a useful technique for low budget films to not even show a question of money, but it also removes the film from reality.
We follow Smith (Thomas Dekker) as he tries to define his current state of sexuality. According to him, he is not straight, not homosexual, nor bisexual. He likes men, particularly his blonde-haired, surfer roommate Thor, but he sleeps with women, mostly just one woman, London, but then also a couple of various men. We also move in and out of reality and into his dream world with Smith. He has a bit of a hard time deciphering what is real and what is a dream, and we have a significantly harder time differentiating the two.
In either the dream world or the real world, a thriller plot develops involving unknown men chasing Smith, a mysterious red-haired girl, and a possible dead body. Unravelling this mystery seemed like it was going to be quite interesting, but then the film just took us back to the sexual misadventures of Smith and his friends.
By the time we delve back into the mystery, the line between dreams and reality have blurred even farther, and instead of liking or caring about the characters, we have grown tired of their over-intellectualizing prattle, self-obsessed demeanor, and their constant bed-hopping. We never grow attached to them, we just form a sort of curiosity to see if they will ever become relatable.
"Kaboom" is a modern, stylized sex ed thriller. The dialogue is even realistic because know-it-all college hippies really do talk like that. But do you want to hear college students philosophize their way out of doing assignments and into doing everybody they meet? I didn't think so. |
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