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CHESTER TURMOIL

By Merle Bertrand | November 1, 1999

If Dr. Siffer and Dr. Ciffer had spent as much time perfecting their “Eye-Cam System” as they do bickering with each other over receiving the credit for it, things would be a lot more pleasant for their unfortunate medical subject Chester Turmoil. If director Matt Bass had spent as much time working on conveying his plot as he did devising ways to make “Chester Turmoil” look cool, this film would be a lot more pleasant for the viewer. With a vibrant black and white look and gadget filled lab straight out of an old 1950s mad scientist movie, “Chester Turmoil” looks cool as hell. Unfortunately, in every other respect, it’s a mess. Apparently, the Eye-Cam uses a technique whereby the doctors digitally implant the entire world’s collective memories into Chester’s (Sam Gold) mind. As you might expect, this tends to be a bit overwhelming, especially for someone like Chester who’d been born with no eyes.
Okay so far, but that’s about all there is to the film. As near as I could tell, while the despicable doctors bicker and ham it up on a “Brazil”-like television talk show, Chester lolls his head about senselessly. Soon, he has a violent seizure and tragedy strikes when the buffoonish doctors don’t have a clue what to do. None of what’s happening to Chester is ever explained, which is about par for this silly film. For all its slick visual chicanery, “Chester Turmoil” is a lot like its name implies: a loud, messy, and confusing jumble.

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