Coming Home (2008)
Not Rated / Color / 19 Minutes

WARNING: THIS CAPSULE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

It's been a few years since I watched and reviewed Eric Falardeau's short film Purgatory, which blew me away with its interesting visuals and intense violence. With his latest film Coming Home, Eric has changed things up a bit from his previous effort. In Purgatory, he used a dark, dreary cellar as the backdrop for his film, there was no dialogue, and truthfully there wasn't really a discernable plot.

However, in Coming Home, Eric sets his twisted tale in a snow-covered field in broad daylight, utilizes a small amount of dialogue, and delivers a semblance of a plot. He manages to accomplish the latter task by supplying various clues to the audience as the events of the film unfold.

The first clue comes right at the beginning, with scenes from a snuff film intercut throughout the opening credits. A girl "starring" in said snuff film is tied to a chair, tortured, and murdered. Then her body is apparently disposed of in a snowy field. Once the credits sequence ends, we meet the two main characters. The first is a gentleman who has just gotten out of prison; the second is the guy who has come to pick him up.

After a few minutes of silence, the passenger begins talking and gives us a little more insight into the relationship between these two men. He asks the driver if he's "seen the film" and if they are going to "where [he] left her." So, if you guessed that Mr. Ex-con is the lead actor in the aforementioned snuff film, and responsible for the death of the driver's daughter, wife, or girlfriend, then give yourself a pat on the back.

The driver doesn't respond and eventually pulls his truck into a desolate-looking snow-covered field. The driver gets out and rustles through the toolbox in the back of his truck, until he finds his weapon of choice: A huge friggin' wrench! He clubs his passenger over the head and then stakes the unconscious man to the icy ground.

Once the guy on the ground regains consciousness, his not-so-friendly companion straddles him, pulls out a film can, and begins unspooling the film inside. Afterward, the driver hideously disfigures his victim by slowly slicing off the guy's eyelids! This is a truly shocking and horrifying moment, and is made all the more realistic by the driver's reaction to what he has just done.

As the man on the ground stares lidless at the sky above, and screams in pain, the driver walks away in a daze. Eventually he falls to his knees and begins to wash his hands in the snow, but he clearly is not content with simply wiping his victim's blood from his hands.

This becomes painfully evident when his excessive washing results in the horrifying disfigurement of his hands. As he keeps scrubbing and tearing at his skin, it begins to strip away and fall to the ground. Oblivious to the pain, this mysterious avenger continues to "wash" his hands as the film ends.

Coming Home is an interesting piece of cinema and was shot on 8MM, which appears to be director Eric Falardeau's format of choice. This gives the film a gritty look that goes well with the story and thematic material. The film's plot is told in a fairly unconventional manner, which turns out to be on of its strongest points.

I simply love a movie that isn't completely dumbed down, and forces viewers to think for themselves. The snuff film bit in the opening, the few lines uttered by the "future staring contest champion," and the actions of the film's protagonist(?) give us all we need to know.

It's obvious that one man has committed a terrible wrong toward the other by murdering someone close to him (which is an assumption on my part). The man that has been wronged takes the law into his own hands and administers what he believes is justice, only to suffer a complete mental breakdown in the process.

Falardeau's unique style of storytelling is bolstered by an eerie score (that takes a backseat for most of the film's short running time), strong performances from the two leads, effective gore effects, and an amalgam of excellent camera-work and editing. This is easily one of the best made films I have seen in recent memory, and should be a proud addition to Eric's growing filmography.

Coming Home is an impressive short film though I must admit that it doesn't quite lend itself to repeat viewings, and ultimately lacks the entertainment value of its bigger and dumber Hollywood brethren. But make no mistake, this is an exceptional piece of cinema, and is more than worthy of receiving:


- FOUR 'RADS' -

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