Dischord

This film is very uneven in terms of terms of acting. Gypsy and Jimmy were great but whoever played the cop was one of the worst I've seen. Likewise the directing was dreadful.But I did like the story and despite the many flaws I actually enjoyed watching it. The music was lovely. Some of the concepts were interesting such as the spirit of the beach. I actually wished they explored more on that particular idea. Its barely touched upon.what I liked best is that this was a character drama. The audience knows right away who the identity of the killer. Its not a who done it mystery as most films would've done. Instead its about three people approaching the end of their relationships.I do understand why a lot of people dislike Dischord. It has plenty of flaws that can be hard to overlook. There were no extras to the film other than the trailer.

I don't really understand what this movie was about. It was strange. I am rating it two stars because it takes place on Cape Cod and the scenery was nice.

Amazing movie the actors were amazing in this movie.

DischordMark Wilkinson dir, 2001Fails to meet its potential 2.5*The low budget indie "Dischord" certainly has the bones of a good film hiding somewhere under the skin. The basic concept has the potential to make a good thriller: Burnt out alt-rock violinist Gypsy and her New Age musician husband Lucian retreat to his Cape Cod bungalow where he works on his new album and she wanders the beach. A young woman's corpse is discovered by The Beachcomber, washed up in a pile of seaweed. The cops are content with the obvious suspect, a "serial killer from Philadelphia" they have nabbed in the neighborhood. Lucian's wacked-out brother Jimmy shows up after a ten year absence. He and Gypsy frolic while the type-A Lucian toils over his keyboard. Retired Boston detective Dunbarton reads about the case in the paper and, convinced the killer is still on the loose, trundles down to the Cape and pokes his nose in. A second body, this one a local girl, shows up. Unspecified events that led to Jimmy's state are referenced. Gypsy talks reflectively to The Beachcomber, an old and weather-beaten man, also a little crazed. This, combined with the scenic and quaint Cape setting, should make for an enjoyable film.So what went wrong? First off, much of the interplay between the three central characters (Gypsy, Jimmy, Lucian) was strained and awkward, as wooden as the that in 2001: A Space Odyssey The attempted cutesiness of Gypsy "singing for her supper" doesn't convince, nor does the lobster dinner food fight. It's hard to tell if this is bad acting or simply inability to breath life into poorly written lines.Then a good deal of the film just fails to make sense. Gypsy sees (or detects, or something) "spirits" -- ok, not too bizarre for a New Agey musician, but so do hard bitten cops and fishermen. The Old Detective swings an interview with the serial killer from Philadelphia, and he is a strung out raving lunatic -- apart from serial killers generally being outwardly normal, it's amazing this guy managed to get from Philadelphia to the Cape. But this makes it an easy call for the OD to be confident the killer is still to be found (and makes the local cops seem like dunces). Speaking of whom, why was OD even interested in the first place? What in the newspaper story made him pack up and head for the Cape?And it tries to get too cute with the production. Lots of odd cutting and editing. Backstory is told in lots of tiny flashbacks, and it's often inobvious what's a flashback and not. Obvious digital trickery (the dolphins jumping in the background). And what's with Gypsy's "talking head" shots? Are they part of her conversations with The Beachcomber? or somewhere in surreal space?And finally, the denouement [SPOILER HERE, sort of]. Throughout we are teased with just who the killer is. All the clues lead to one obvious suspect, but that is just too easy. I kept waiting for the real killer to become apparent, as any good thriller should have a final bait-and-switch. Alas, no."Dischord" was largely panned by the pro critics. To show how desperate the DVD publishers were for a positive quote to grace the cover, they quote the Village Voice review by David Ng, "Writer-director Mark Wilkinson gracefully elides backstories while arranging his converging narratives into a neat fugue." Apart from not making much sense ("elide" means to cut out -- the backstory was more intrusive than elided), they fail to continue with "but the overall preciousness of his conception is suffocating" and other even less flattering characterizations.I'm going to give this a guarded 3*. There is the potential, and some people may actually enjoy this one for that thriller potential, for the musical background or for the Cape setting. Richard Bakalyan does a personable job as Detective Dunbarton, and Annunziata Gianzero is appropriately spacey and sprightly as Gypsy.

Not to great... I would have preferred more Music!!

Implausible, poor screenplay, dull, badly acted with virtually nothing going for it - avoid.

Utter utter pants. This film looks like it has been filmed with a wobbly cam corder, written and edited by a bunch of school kids or very amateur films makers. I truly believe that I could make a better film myself given the opportunity. It is of such low quality that I would have given it zero stars if possible. Avoid like the plague....