So, Man Under Table is about getting a film off the ground in a dystopian version of Los Angeles, and it’s a comedy. A lot of people are going to find the need to wrap their head around this without any doubt, since watching the trailer might make them laugh, in a long, creepy, drawn-out sort of way that would be ironic somehow. Perhaps getting into the movie will make it appear funnier in some manner, or perhaps that’s hopeful thinking and one will simply have to attune themselves to the strange nuances of this movie in order to make it work on some strange but necessary level. It’s tough to say really, but it’s a bit obvious that someone had faith in this idea and pushed forward with it in order to see how far it could go. The strange, existential nature of this movie is likely something that will confuse a great number of viewers no matter that they’ll claim to understand what’s going on without fail. With such a movie it becomes a case of knowing who’s fooling who, though it’s often the audience that’s trying to fool themselves into understanding exactly what’s going on.
The main thrust of the story is about making a movie in a very strange-looking land that isn’t hard to accept as Los Angeles but still looks like a cross between something that came out of California and the set to A Clockwork Orange. There’s a method to the madness no doubt but it’s something that people will need to watch the movie to figure out since things already look strange enough from the short bit that the trailer shows us. Of course, what looks strange to one person might look like a good time to another, so it’s very easy to think that it might turn out to be something that people will be talking about in the days to come.
With the flood of movies and movie ideas that continually come in every year, it’s amazing to take the time just to sit and realize how many people there are out there who are attempting to make their voice heard. Some of them have been around for a while and might not have amassed as big of a following as others, while some might be stepping into the spotlight for the first time. Noel David Taylor isn’t exactly a newbie but he does have the need to keep pushing ideas to those who want to listen and those that will sit down and watch what he has to offer, as this strange but compelling idea of a movie that depicts a man trying to make a movie will undoubtedly attract plenty of viewers that are enchanted by such stories. It’s not the first and it likely won’t be the last time that someone sells this idea of a movie character attempting to put together a movie in order to better themselves or perhaps become noticed by their peers, but this story does appear to be asking the audience to take a walk with the characters in a manner that will tell the story as well as wrap them in a strange embrace that might end up convincing some people that it’s a worthwhile tale.
The trailer already feels like a strange dance of characters and dialogue that doesn’t really go anywhere but isn’t standing still either, as the madness inherent in each scene within the trailer is enough to convince some folks that it could be worth it to see what lies beyond the dialogue and what can be gleaned from the rest of the movie. In short, it looks like something that will take a great deal of patience and a lot of comprehension to really get through, but it’s definitely possible to make something out of it and possibly even laugh when the moment presents itself. One might want to think that out of all the movies coming out in this current era that every last one of them deserves a chance to be recognized and even held up as an example of the current times we live in, and this movie definitely nails that without too much effort. But then there’s the rest of the movie that needs to be considered.
Perhaps it’s the time of morning creating this perception, or maybe it’s something to do with the premise of the movie or its delivery, but Man Under Table feels like one of the many movies that people are going to come to a conclusion about before they ever finish watching it. At that point, watching the rest of the movie might be kind of redundant to some but necessary to others, if only to prove or disprove that their estimation of the plot and premise was correct or completely out of whack with what they were given.
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