Bug has Delusional
Paranoia and Government Conspiracies.
In Bug the delusional paranoia
and government
conspiracies along with parasitic bugs and and strangers meeting in a
run down motel make for a fairly interesting movie that is sure to keep
you guessing.
Written by BHM Contributor Michael
Saunier May 30, 2007
Release:
May, 2007 Directed by: William Friedkin Written by: Tracy Letts
Starring:
Ashley Judd as Agnes White Michael Shannon as Peter Evans Lynn Collins as R.C. Brian F. O'Byrne as Dr. Sweet Harry Connick Jr. as Jerry Goss
Agnes (Ashley Judd) is a woman who lives alone in a rundown
motel and works as a waitress in the local honky-tonk/lesbian bar. Her
ex-boyfriend Jerry, played to near perfection by Harry Connick Jr, has
just been paroled from prison and is making his presence known by way
of multiple dead-silence phone calls, causing Agnes to fear for her
life. Jerry is a loose cannon, you see, and tried to strangle her to
death in the not too distant past.
Agnes’ lives a life of drinking, drug use, ex-con boyfriend
stalking and semi-squalor. Then she meets Peter Evans (Michael
Shannon). Peter is a mysterious drifter with no friends and creepy
mannerisms, but despite his nervous behaviors and his claim to be able
to “see things” in people that make them
uncomfortable, Agnes strikes up a romantic relationship with him.
The story in Bug really gets rolling when Peter
rips apart the motel
bedding after being bitten by a bug. Peter becomes obsessed with bugs
hanging fly paper from the ceiling every 2 feet and using a microscope
to examine potential parasites. The source of the obsession, Peter
explains to Agnes, is that he was once a soldier in the US Army and
served as a test subject in experiments surrounding a certain
blood-feeding bug. Peter claims that he escaped the Army tests and is
now being sought by the military – and they will do
everything in their power to get him back.
Bug
had the effect of changing the audience’s opinion of what
truly was happening to the characters scene by scene. After watching
one scene, the people in front of me were convinced that this was a
movie about government conspiracies and Big Brother, but after the next
exchange everyone was leaning more towards the idea that Peter and
Agnes were simply crazy.
Director William Friedkin, most famous for his horror masterpiece The
Exorcist, uses interesting camera angles and
dramatic colors that pop
from the screen. Unfortunately, Bug wastes too much
time getting to the
meat of the story. Some background is needed, of course, but as Bug
played on I found myself saying, ‘When are we going to see
some action here?”
Michael
Shannon does a superb job playing the awkward and unsettling
character of Peter Evans. Shannon’s ability to take a scene
and be sweet, funny, odd, and utterly creepy all in the span of 30
seconds was great. The acting in general was very good.
I also liked the sound effects. Bug zappers, tin foil crunching, and
the sounds of the actors running around in the motel room added to the
tension as the climax built.
I found Bug lacking in terms of pace, particularly
in the first half,
and those who need a cut-and-dry resolution will not find it in Bug.
Other than these two issues, I found Bug to be an
interesting, unique
film about schizophrenia, reality, conspiracies, germ warfare, and the
power of suggestion.
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