Baghead (2008)

An extended navel gaze.

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10/22/08

Alternately funny and scary, 'Baghead' suggests that 'The Blair Witch Project' may be as responsible for mumblecore as any of the self-consciously anti-commercial movies that usually are credited with jump-starting the trend.

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09/19/08

I want to shout, not mumble, that the Duplasses are a couple of the most promising filmmakers out there.

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09/11/08

Baghead's got exactly one joke to exploit -- it's a relationship movie masquerading as a horror movie -- and proceeds to beat it to death.

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09/05/08

The co-directors and co-writers, Jay and Mark Duplass, appear to be saying, 'Hey, we are the new emperors of the independent cinema. And guess what? We have no clothes.'

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09/05/08

Baghead is best in its first half, when it's just about a group of four friends trying to escape the ruts their lives have become.

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09/04/08

A refreshingly brisk and modest salvo from the American independent film front, proving there's still interesting life in the scruffy, shot-on-video genre.

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08/29/08

Jay and Mark Duplass -- the brothers who wrote, directed and produced this bauble -- take literally two-thirds of the film to come to a very small point.

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08/29/08

Alternately hilarious, subtly sinister, and finally poignant, Baghead is not quite like any other film in memory.

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08/23/08

Compared to films such as Tropic Thunder and The Blair Witch Project, Baghead's poke at the film industry and attempt at verite horror are a little like making vroom-vroom noises next to a Porsche.

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08/20/08

The coda, even if it doesn't wholly work, should have some sobering lessons for would-be filmmakers who see this. Kids, try this at home.

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08/15/08

Baghead is at once a terrifically smart and scary piece of entertainment, an embodiment of the mumblecore aesthetic, and a sly commentary on the challenges aspiring and independent filmmakers face in finding an audience for their work.

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08/08/08

It's clear that horror isn't really the Duplass' forte: The simple scenes of these four aspiring filmmakers sitting around a table, brainstorming ideas while tearing each other apart are more interesting than all that running and screaming.

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08/08/08