I have a plea to indie filmmakers: please stop making movies about the challenges faced by aspiring directors in making movies. The subject has been worked to death, thank you, and no one outside of the movie orbit is even remotely interested in the headaches and obstacles that exist for would-be directors in the period between the hazy pre-production phase and the be-all/end-all premiere.
Sadly, my futile plea is being delivered after this 23-episode web series turned up. As its title suggests, this production offers a modern-day Ed Wood and his endless headaches in getting his vision on camera.
In this production, we have the “infamous crazy director, Moses” – or at least that’s what the series’ website promises, although there is little on the screen to suggest infamy, let alone craziness. Instead, there are endless variations of one weak joke with the nasally, prissy Moses (played by 22-year-old co-director/producer/writer Seth Chitwood, who is at least 15 years too young for the role) struggling to deal with a parade of no-talents on both sides of the camera that constantly trip him up in his pursuit of an artistic vision.
While one might expect operatic eruptions of ego and outlandish situations to turn Moses’ work into total chaos, all we have is a skein of shrill and tinny situations. The whole thing is anchored in an amateur-hour production that looks like it was filmed in somebody’s mother’s condo, and a ubiquitous hiss on the soundtrack is the only thing here that will keep the most devoted viewer awake.
Thankfully, we already have Ed Wood – both the real auteur and Tim Burton’s biopic version of the infamous artist – to keep us amused on how not to make a movie.
