Bug - 2006

 I think I saw Bug when it was relatively new, likely on Netflix DVD as it used to be rather than streaming, and I remember liking it and always sorta wanting to revisit it.

This very much slots into the "type of thing I used to seek out" or be into, especially around this time, 2006 being towards the later half of my nihilistic self destructive spiral of releasing emotions through traumatic film or art in general.  If it had people experiencing mass pain and suffering, sign me up.

This was NOT my introduction to Michael Shannon, although it kinda was but news alert, I always forget he plays the guy that Bill Murray buys tickets to Wrestlemania for in Groundhog Day.  The hell?  Anyways, Shannon and Ashley Judd star as a couple people who meet and hit it off early in the film.  She's a alcoholic who's running from her felon ex, he's a quiet weirdo and they have a natural attraction and soon become involved.  That is when he first gives a sign of something wrong, when he begins remarking about tiny bugs he sees in the bed, and then when he begins to see them everywhere.

This is movie about paranoia, obviously, and mental problems.  It is a film depicting clearly paranoid schizophrenia as well as possible drug-addled effects, as they have a meth pipe but are not seen using it.  But more than that it is a film about how deep and how hard empathy is, about how we run from one type of relationship to another of the same kind, about abuse mental and physical.

Directed by William Friedkin, there are incredible shots and tricks evident in this extremely minimal 2 set film.  We have a small hotel room and a bar.  That's it.  One shot in a grocery store.  There are maybe 5 characters in the film.  Given all this, these guys put work into it and the film looks incredible.  There's a specific shot I can recall of a man laying on a bed, ceiling fan above him, and the camera looks at him from behind the blades of the fan.

It's a really disturbing, really challenging movie to watch, and you know, I think it's incredible to see a guy like Friedkin still challenging himself in his 70s with a 4 million dollar indie thriller.  His last film, Killer Joe is awesome as well, and Friedkin was truly one of the greats.  I give this 4.5 stars.