Much of filmmaker Michael Reich’s glaucomatous experimentation can be traced back to its shot-on-VHS origins. The closest disenthralled video artist Mike Pinkney (as himself) has come to Tinseltown prominence is the iconic Hollywood sign that looks down upon the dog washing emporium where his job is to groom and express Fido’s anal glands. One should master the rules before breaking them: all of the imperfections Reich delights in putting on view do not approximate storytelling. Nor does he cast his lead’s disillusionment in a thought-provoking light. A tight shot of dog crap in the road is followed by the title card: “My life is shit.” When Reich shifts from low-fi camcorder to au courant digital, his pictures sharpen only in terms of physical clarity, not visual storytelling. There is a romantic subplot, but as is the case with many a beautiful woman who, when confronted by an imponderable man-boy... well, it doesn’t take a spoiler to alert one as to the direction this will take. It was completed in 2016 and shelved until a time people were trapped inside their homes and starved for entertainment. (Knocks aside, the shot of the banana-woman was sublime, but not enough to warrant an endorsement.) (2020) — Scott Marks
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