The Speed Of Mind – Review

The Speed Of Mind

With Wayne Connell, Steve Lowe, Erica Jensen, Louis Greto, Matt Grondin
Directed and written by Patrick Hasson (Provisional Films)
by Michael McCarthy


Fifteen minutes into this, I really had no idea what was going on, only that one of the characters had been pulled over by a cop and another was rear-ended. (To that end, my Mom and Dad have considerably more interesting auto mishap stories to tell – and you probably do, too.) Eventually a chap named Jim (Connell) meets Dell (Grondin), a young boy with an abusive, Bible-pounding father named Lowell (Greto), whom God apparently speaks to. Meanwhile, Jim’s brother Neeman (Lowe) orders him around, sells fruit, and whines to his girlfriend. (Strangely, Jim tells Neeman that Dell speaks to him even though Dell doesn’t speak.) Later, Lowell’s brother Matthew shows up and a gun is introduced to the film. Exciting? Hardly. Interesting? Somewhat.

The tone of this debut feature from Patrick Hasson reminds me a bit of Richard Linklater’s Slacker, though there’s a desolation more akin to James Mangold’s underrated Heavy. The best comparison, however, would probably be to Harmony Korine’s overrated and confusing Gummo. It’s clear that Hasson didn’t make such a fragmented film because of a small budget or lack of a more substantial story. On the contrary, he’s undoubtedly spent a lot of time coming up with visuals and sounds – and a style of assembling them – that would give the viewer insight to his characters’ minds. The time-lapse photography and often quick editing occasionally give it the look and feel of a music video, thus keeping it from dragging too much, while frequent shots of the sky help the viewer comprehend how void the characters’ lives are. The problem is that too much emphasis is placed on what goes on in the characters’ heads as opposed to showing more of their actual lives and how those thoughts influence their behavior. What could’ve been an involving 60 minute short is expanded to a feature-length film, and it ultimately tastes like watered down lemonade.
(2151/2 S. 1st St. Laramie, WY 82070)