Travis (Cody Clarke) is a young musician who makes humorous songs like ”Belly Button Man” in between juggling the girls in his life. His typical day goes something like: play guitar, text girl, hook up with girl, leave girl to go home and play more guitar. His two-track mind seems to make him pretty happy. The only conflict that seems to exist in his life is that some of the girls he’s seeing aren’t ready to sleep with him yet. And even then, he seems pretty much fine with it. Until the film’s climax, nothing dramatic, nothing really good, and nothing really bad happens to Travis and the film is built around this level world. It’s all good.
Cody Clarke wrote, directed, produced, edited, and starred in Shredder, his first feature film. Sometimes it’s nice to know whom to thank/blame for a movie’s successes/failures. Luckily, this black-and-white “avant-garde teen film” has more from Column A than Column B. The film’s stillness is refreshing and never boring. Not a lot happens and that’s great. The sound quality is high, the visuals are economical but clear, and the plot works. Plus, there’s not a bad performance to be found. If Clarke has more projects in the pipeline, I’d gladly watch them.
One other note: Shredder is worth watching for the musicians alone. Travis’ friends talk, dress, and play like the young musicians you grew up with. Awkward flirting about cage chords and offering to give girls music lessons? Freshman year seems so long ago.
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