Garage Days

Garage Days
Film review by: Witney Seibold

            Australian director Alex Proyas is best known in this country (as of 2003) for his two surreal and nightmarishly beautiful science fiction films “The Crow” and “Dark City,” and while he’s expressed in interviews that he wants to sidle away from genre films, it’s still something of a shock to see him helming a film as bright, as energetic, and with such an ordinary story as “Garage Days.”
            The film follows Freddy (Kick Gurry) and his band as they try their darndest to become rock stars. It’s a usual motley gang: the angry bassist (the adorable Pia Miranda), the insanely horny drummer (Chris Sadrinna), the melancholy guitarist (Brett Stiller), the big fat lump of a manager (a great Russell Dykstra), the love interest (Maya Stange), and Freddy himself, the frontman, who is equal parts ambitious and clueless. Along the path to fame are the blocks of: a love triangle, relationship trials, the encroaching casinos, a bitter record exec full of promises and menace (Marton Csokas), acid trips, mental illness, and, overall, a general lack of talent.
            There are a few nice touches to the film, as: we don’t actually hear the band play until the big finale, and while the myriad edits and music-video montages were kind of distracting, and even, at times, assaulting, I did end up understanding (if not always appreciating) the film’s style; there was a brilliant LSD trip involving an unexpected and enthusiastic dance number to Rick James’ “Super Freak.” We also, at one point, witness, in print, the f-work flying freely out over the city. Also, Proyas set the film sort of outside of time and place. It’s said that it’s present-day Sydney, but the buildings are all imaginary places (indeed when we see the only recognizable monument, the Opera House, the drug-addled characters are laughing at it), and the characters could be musicians anywhere from 1968-1990.
            But for all its energy and style, the film is kind of… well, dull. You can tell a lot of love went into this project, but it never lifts itself into any new territory. Proyas needs to bring back the originality and beauty of “Dark City.”