Movie review: Kaboom

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Drama

Opens locally Friday, March 18th, 2011

Starring: Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, James Duval, Chris Zylka

Directed by Gregg Araki (Smiley Face, Mysterious Skin, Splendor)

​Theres no good words, or catchy phrases, that will describe the awful experience that is "Kaboom," a new indy movie that is suitable for no one.

The Plot. There is no real discernable plot, as it exists mostly as a visual hallucinogen trip. Thomas Dekker is a free-thinking, bisexual college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in his college town. The movie contains a lot of sex, and a hippy spirit that even hippy's would describe as "out there, man."

But before we get into Kaboom, I'm going to go all "film school" on you in an attempt to give Kaboom the proper perspective.

In Kaboom, there is a brief reference to a 1929 french film, "Un Chien Andalou", a very important film I remember being taught in film theory. Directed by Luis Bunuel and co-produced by the artist Salvador Dali, this movie stood out as an important silent surreal film in what was called the avant-garde film movement. This film was a collection of random thoughts and images, often disturbing, that had no conventional "plot" structure. In fact, to quote Bunuel, "no idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted," and that "nothing in the film symbolizes anything. The only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, psychoanalysis."

So because Kaboom references "Un Chien Andalou" directly, is this what it is trying to achieve? Some sort of moder-day avant-garde film? If so, then I guess kudos to the director for his newest entry into the world of "art." But just like when I watched "Un Chien Andalou" back in film class, it may have been important for the art-form or for the movement, but that didn't mean I wanted to watch it...or that it is accessible to an every-day movie-goer.

Just like a "regular bloke" could stare at a painting for an hour, of a spec of white on a canvas of black, we may wonder why this is called "art." That painting, to a art connoisseur, may be an impactful and important piece of work, even though we don't understand necessarily why.

​Bottom Line. So Kaboom may be studied, or considered "modern day" art, but if "Exit Through the Gift Shop" taught me anything, it's that art is only in the eye of the beholder. Well in this beholder's eye, Kaboom is just a trashy, psychodelic waste of time that tries to appear hip and artsy but comes off as a ginormous explosion of self-important crud.