Bellflower is a 2011 American indie action drama film written and directed by Evan Glodell.
Bellflower follows two friends as they venture out into the world to begin their adult lives. Literally all their free time is spent building flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in hopes that a global apocalypse will occur and clear the runway for their imaginary gang “Mother Medusa”. While waiting for the world to end, their call to excitement comes unexpectedly when one of them meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love.
Quickly integrated into a new group of friends, they set off on a journey of betrayal, love, hate, infidelity and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies. Often life's simplest and most obvious truths are the hardest to see, but once you've burned everything to the ground it may be the only thing left standing.
Special Features
- Behind the Scenes (Featuring Cast & Crew interviews)
- “Medusa Unknown” – an in depth look at the hand built car
Awards
- Fantasporto 2012 – Won Special Jury Prize
- Independent Spirit Awards 2012 – Nominated John Cassavetes Award, Nominated Best Cinematography
- Gotham Awards 2011 – Nominated Breakthrough Director Award
- Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema 2011 – Won Best Film, Won Best Cinematography
- Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival 2011 – Won Jury Award
Reviews
Here’s a movie that starts in your face and, amazingly, keeps coming at you. That’s a good thing.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“ That American pastime of chopping cars is just one of the many true details that distinguish the seductive, grubby-beautiful, low-budget movie “Bellflower” from the usual indie chaff…Mr. Glodell’s enthusiasm and ability to turn chump change into cinema, as well as the excitement he generated at Sundance and afterward, bring to mind Robert Rodriguez’s arrival at Sundance in 1993 with his debut feature, “El Mariachi.” Mr. Glodell is working distinctly different story terrain, however — in this case, an affair gone apocalyptic — and with technical virtuosity and beauty. Playing with color, he washes “Bellflower” in a warm orange that soon heats up, and lets grime spatter the lens to accentuate Woodrow’s increasingly murky thinking. Unlike many young filmmakers, Mr. Glodell, working with his cinematographer, Joel Hodge, fully exploits the plasticity of the image. The intentional roughness of his visuals, their literal dirt and distortions, underscores that this is handmade, personal moviemaking. Mr. Glodell’s gritty expressionism is a pleasurable kick, as are the turns in his story, which evolves from a drifty romance into an unexpected, moving examination of young (straight) men who live better in their heads — and with other men — than with women. “Bellflower” is about a couple of industrious slackers (if they have jobs, I don’t remember them), who call each other “dude” and spend all their time playing with big, bad toys. Yet there’s more here than initially meets and sometimes assaults the eye, including the hyperbolic dudeness of it all. They may be fully grown, but they’re not yet adults and are caught up in their self-dramatizing fantasies, as the nods to “Mad Max” and Aiden’s sketchbook suggest. Together Woodrow and Aiden have built a boys’ club that’s at once exuberantly liberating and a prison house made for two." – The New York Times
“A mix of JOHN HUGHES, MAD MAX and FIGHT CLUB. Intense and darkly gorgeous.” – James Rocchi, MSN