BUBBA MOON FACE – SLIFF Review

Blake Eckard is what you’d call a “micro-budget” filmmaker. This means precisely how it sounds. Movies made on little to no budget, independent fare created by artists driven to have their visions come to fruition, regardless of any financial obstacles that would otherwise restrict such an endeavor. Eckard’s newest film is titled BUBBA MOON FACE, which he wrote and directed. With a title as odd as BUBBA MOON FACE, you may imagine the film being equally strange. On some level, this is certainly true, but its a subtle quirkiness that underlies the entire film, primarily a drama about a drifter named Horton (Tyler Messner) that returns to his rural roots for his mother’s funeral. While back home, his car breaks down and is forced to stay with his brother Stanton (Joe Hammerstone).

Horton is a reserved man, not an entirely happy man, and clearly removed from his past as a country boy given his reluctance and uneasiness around his kin. Certain interactions with his brother suggest he’s been gone for some time. As the story progresses, we’re introduced to Horton’s father Gus (Joe Hanrahan) who really brings out the David Lynch style strangeness of the story. Gus is a multiple divorcee, sexually romantic with a woman at least half his age and clearly heavy into recreational drugs, likely methamphetamine, given the rural setting and his peculiar nature. His presence creates more tension with Horton than is already present Stanton’s newly revealed situation.

Imagine taking BLUE VELVET and and turning it into a low-budget family drama, and you may begin to come close to describing the uniquely absurd and intriguing nature of BUBBA MOON FACE. When a drunken one-night stand named Sabetha (Sylvia Geiger) shows up on Stanton’s doorstep with a newborn baby, Horton finds himself stuck in the middle of a parental spat he wants nothing to do with. From here, the story deepens further into a tangled web of familiar connections and uncomfortable situations, including a casual love triangle between Horton, Stanton and a barmaid named Leslie (Misty Ballew).

BUBBA MOON FACE was shot in rural Northwest Missouri, evident in the many beautifully photographed establishing shots that are peppered throughout the film. On this level, the film feels close to home, as my roots reach into this same general area. While the literal actions and dialogue of the film are exaggerated, for humor and dramatic effect, the core of the relationships and circumstances are based in a foundation of real life. In a less than flattering light, there’s a clear element of what you’d expect to find on The Jerry Springer Show, but the truth is these things do happen. There are people who, for whatever reasons, seem strange and alien to people from other backgrounds, and the same is true in reverse. It seems to me that Eckard is trying to accentuate this.

Blake Eckard now has made four micro-budget feature films in the last decade. Take a moment, consider that statement and you should realize how impressive that is. Major Hollywood studio films with multi-million dollar budgets rarely are completed from script to release in under a year, but Eckard is trending one feature film every 2.5 years. Eckard’s films may not look like Hollywood fare, they may not be as polished as most viewers are accustomed to, but what I see is an independent filmmaker who knows what he’s doing, but chooses not to focus on the money of making movies. Likewise, I’ve certainly seen better written films, whereas Eckard’s dialogue is far from perfect, but the clumsiness (for lack of better words) adds an element of uncomfortable absurdity to this story that makes sense on a somewhat satirical level.

BUBBA MOON FACE screened at the Tivoli Theatre this morning (11/12/2011) as part of the 20th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Blake Eckard.