Eckard’s screenplay is a cocktail of one part Shepard, one part Bukowski, with a splash of Jim Thompson for the blood-red color. Eckard serves it in a dirty glass in the nastiest dive bar you’ve ever stepped into. I absolutely loved it. Everything locks together so well, with all pistons firing right when needed. And the ending is kinda awesome; not gonna lie, I was grinning hard. It is impressive how masterfully he blends the hard drama with the fiery pulp elements. The story puts the pedal to the metal on the extremities without dropping into thriller territory, with ferocious results.
Expressionistic images are prevalent throughout, starting with the opening scene’s wonderful umbilical cord symbolism. Bubba Moon Face gives you a peek at how dark it gets on the perimeters of civilization, where you can fall off the face of the Earth at any moment.
“This is what indie is all about: untamed, unpolished, and unapologetic.”
Eckard zeros in on the elements that are unique to micro-cinema and uses them to the film’s advantage. The stunning cinematography by Cody Stokes is a great example. The digital camera quality from that time gives the images a delicious muted color palette that intensifies the bleakness. This long-prized visual aesthetic from the ’70s grindhouse cinema flew off long ago and has now come home to roost. The blunt tint on the unwashed colors increases the raw feel of the aura generated. This is definitely a case of turning all your weaknesses into strengths.
It also increases the feral pedigree of the whole film, making its impact even more potent. The plot structure is like a wild animal that you invite into your house to care for, and then it turns on you. Very few times have I seen audience sympathy so well laid out to trap you later. It drops into some very dark places that time has only made much darker.
The same passage of time has enriched the starving class atmosphere of the picture, encapsulating the whole decade-behind feel when in the middle of nowhere. This is as gritty as gritty can get; we are talking Dennis Hopper depths of devastation. It makes me very curious to dig up Eckard’s other works, as Bubba Moon Face gives you hope for the dark promise of what can come in from the wilds of indie cinema.
Bubba Moon Face is part of a double-feature DVD featuring two of Blake Eckard’s most startling and harrowing films: Bubba Moon Face and Coyotes Kill for Fun.
"…impressive how masterfully he blends the hard drama with the fiery pulp elements."
