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Site created 12/15/97.
page added: 10/5/07
Bug: Special Edition
2006 (2007) - Lionsgate
DVD review by Greg Suarez of The Digital Bits
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| Adapted
from a stage play by Tracy Letts, Bug
is the story of Agnes (Ashley Judd), a rundown woman who lives in an
equally rundown motel room in dusty Oklahoma. Agnes struggles with a
troubled past and the dreary, lonely existence she wakes to every
day. One night she is introduced to a quiet, yet pleasant man named
Peter (Michael Shannon, who reprises his stage role in this film).
In the space of a few hours Agnes and Peter become intensely drawn
to one another, fueled by each one's starvation for human
companionship. Peter moves in with Agnes and unexpectedly becomes an
important piece of her lonely life. Peter develops
obsessive-compulsive tendencies about bugs that have supposedly
infested the room and expresses his conspiracy theory beliefs about
shady government powers controlling everyday life. Agnes, who in
happier times might be put off by such behavior, accepts Peter's
personality and comes to believe in his viewpoints. As Peter's
condition becomes more severe his own troubled past comes to light
and validates his behavior in Agnes' eyes. But the paranoia grows to
dangerous extremes and Agnes is drawn into a chaotic situation which
she cannot control nor escape. But on the other hand, does Peter speak the truth? Are his paranoid delusions in fact reality? Is there an ominous outside force driving Peter and Agnes to insanity for its own sick purpose? Was their meeting not an accident? That's the beauty and the horror of Bug. William Friedkin continues his signature directorial style of crafting stories that force the audience to come to its own conclusion about good and evil. Friedkin almost scientifically balances the visual and scripted clues that careful viewers will mentally collect and inventory as he or she comes to terms with the chaos unfolding on screen. Humans tend to judge the world around them in binary terms: black and white, good and evil, sanity and insanity, etc. This simple categorization makes us feel safe with the knowledge that we know what's dangerous and what's not. What makes Bug particularly effective (much like the classic ending of The Exorcist) is that Friedkin dangles the security blanket of these conventions just out of reach and lets the audience squirm. While Friedkin's direction is the soul of the film, the performances by Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon are its heart. If either player did not "get" the story or were ineffective physical actors, Bug would have been squashed (pun intended). It's easy to throw praise at Ashley Judd for braving such an unattractive role (coupled with full-frontal nudity); Judd was effective at portraying Agnes' loneliness and desperation which allowed the audience to accept her otherwise puzzling inseparability from Peter. But Michael Shannon stole the show. Shannon has had years to fine-tune his portrayal of Peter on stage and all of that experience blazes forth on film. When the audience first meets Peter we witness a quiet, polite man who seems to be harboring carefully concealed secrets. As the story unfolds Peter evolves into a twitching, ticking mess that is a mere shadow of his earlier self. But stripping away Shannon's physical performance reveals sincerity so steadfast that the viewer forgets he's watching a dramatic performance. This is top-notch acting. Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic video, Bug looks respectable on DVD. The overall image is smooth and film-like. The muted earthy color scheme is represented accurately on DVD and during the surreal final act the dramatic color shift is appropriately striking. Compression artifacts - the bane of my existence - never make an appearance here. The biggest downside of this transfer is its distracting softness which washes out all fine detail. Lionsgate did not release a Blu-ray version of Bug and hopefully when they get around to it sharpness will be improved. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack does its job well. Sound was an important part of Friedkin's design for creating suspense and the subtle cues and directional effects translate well to the home theater environment. Dialog is also well mixed and always intelligible. Lionsgate has packaged Bug with a brief, but acceptable set of extras on DVD. Bug: An Introduction is a 12-minute featurette in the EPK vein. The on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage provide some insight into the making of the film, but the piece is mostly promotional. William Friedkin provides a commentary track, but unfortunately he falls into the same trap as he did in his commentary on The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen. Instead of providing insight into story or filmmaking, Friedkin spends the track essentially narrating the film... bummer. By far the best feature included on the disc is the 28-minute A Discussion with William Friedkin featurette. This is a simple one-on-one interview with the celebrated filmmaker about his career (past and future) and his working process. It's a great half-hour for film buffs, students and fans of the director. Bug is a disturbing and effective character study set in a claustrophobic world of loneliness, paranoia and psychological frailty. Friedkin continues his signature style of presenting the audience with a story in which there is no black and white, but many shades of gray. The DVD could have a sharper picture and the supplements could be a little more substantial, but it's still a nice overall package. This is a highly recommended film if you're looking for something thought provoking and off the mainstream. Greg Suarez gregsuarez@thedigitalbits.com |
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