Love Object

Love Object

Love Object

This movie ranks down there with the worst. The shame of it all is the premise is a great idea. Desmond Harrington's acting is really good at portrays the socially inept Kenneth. I think what bothers me the most is that in today's techno/cyber world; people often come to believe non-truths in order to keep themselves from dealing with what's real. If they get to a point when they have the confidence to "step out" into reality, they can't deal with it. Now, that's a sad social commentary on today's society. It seems like there where hints of American Psycho meet Dead Mate (in that the objects of their affections aren't alive). I would suggest a much better film, PIN, unless of course you are merely seeing this film for the ordinary Melissa Sagemiller. She was an okay actress just not an overwhelming beauty worthy of affection. What was with the whacko birthmarks and deformities with the love-lusted?

Oh, Kenneth, Kenneth, Kenneth (Desmond Harrington). What a loser. Hiding in the closet to listen to your neighbor have sex when the new girl (Melissa Sagemiller) is just as lonely as you. Step up there, boy, and get some action. Kenneth decides to try something different. A $10,000 plastic doll. Yep, they are real (On sale at http://ultradolls.com/). Kenneth's relationship with the doll reflects his real feeling for Lisa (Sagemiller), and soon he has enough nerve to make a move. But, as things progress with Lisa, he starts imagining that his doll is jealous and, after a bad night with Lisa, he takes a drastic and horrible step. This is when things gets really weird, and exciting at the same time. He snaps completely and just when we think he is toast, he manages to have heaven intervene and save him. I can't say more than that without giving away the plot, but it certainly was well done. Rip Torn was great as his boss, and Udo Kier played an excellent role. Looking for more from first time writer/director Robert Parigi.

Love Object is a truly unique piece of horror. It's an unsettling film about a lonely guy who takes an unnatural liking to a "real doll." It's basically an ultra-realistic blow up doll...and very creepy I might add. But, when Kenneth falls in love with the new girl at work the doll does not take the news so well. I really don't want to go into the plot details here because the movie is kind of a slow burn that only works once (I've went back and watched it again and it's just not as interesting the second time). The ending is still fantastic though. What makes it work so well are the performances of Desmond Harrington and Melissa Sagemiller. Harrington is one brave actor; not at all afraid to just go for it. I can't imagine too many actors tackling this role. And Sagemiller is really putting herself out there as well. Rip Torn and Udo Kier put in some fun character work too. I recommend viewing Love Object at least once to see there are still good movies being made that don't get a wide theatrical release. A word of warning to the director though: people HATE alarm clocks and the sound that they make. I take away some points for the use of alarm clocks.

Oddball movie directed in a low-key manner. Starts out as a drama, but turns into a psychological horror film. However, dark humor runs rampant through the film, but it is handled in a well orchestrated way, never ruining the impact the film tries to get across to the viewer. Many films these days stumble when they try to tie dark humor in with serious subject matter. A seemingly average joe falls in love with the new girl at his meandering office job. He buys a life-size sex doll that he models after her. He has sex with it, watches movies and dines with it. Soon, average joe and living girl start a relationship, and he starts to believe that the sex doll is getting jealous. A series of lengthy events then take place, involving the living girl finding out about the sex doll, the death of the doll, the average joe trying to turn the living girl into the doll, and the average joe coming out as the good guy in the end. Udo Kier gives us another irritating performance, but Rip Torn is fun to watch. I liked this movie. It's pretty fun and original considering the rubbish horror we have been getting served the last 10 years. Low on blood and gore but features a lot of style and imagination. Will probably be either a hit or miss in the avid horror viewers book. Three Stars.

"Love Object" is a very effective, disturbing dark comedy/horror. It reminded be a lot of another really good, independent horror film called "May". Desmond Harrington has never been this good. It's a top notch performance. Rip Thorn is a great as the boss. The acting performances overall are very good in this film. They really take a taboo subject (can't think of any other film that centers around a sex doll), and make a good story. Robert Parigi's first foray into film making is off to a promising start. He's a writer/director to watch. I will admit that I had a bit of a problem with how the film ended, but I didn't derail my enjoyment of the film. This is recommend to anyone who's tired of the cliché Hollywood horror films, and whats to see something a lot more stimulating, and thought provoking.

That's possibly the worst frame of mind to watch this movie with. The cable company's description (paraphrased): "Guy thinks his love doll has become jealous" What conclusions could be drawn from that? It's vague enough to cover just about any kind of film. I'm hip, I'm aware of Real Dolls and their like, as well as their obsessive owners, the webpages said owners make for their "girls" -- and the websites of Doll "surgeons" -- people whose job is to fix the often grotesque injuries inflicted on these silicone surrogates. And I find the whole scene indescribably hilarious and creepy. 'Of course', I thought to myself after reading the description. 'Doll fixation is ripe for comedy. This movie is a comedy: it's a love triangle consisting of a socially-clumsy guy, his Doll(which is strangely aware/alive-like), and the living, breathing girl of his dreams/"the other woman".' Stupid, stupid me. "Love Object" is not a comedy. It is, at best, a series of scenes strung together in such a way as to lend fantastic support to the claim that some people just aren't fit to be with, well, /other people/. The film does have some funny moments -- mostly about the guy and his especially quiet "girlfriend" -- but is in all other aspects a suspense/horror film -- and I'd have liked it a lot more if it had been able to be more than one of those at a time. At any given point in the movie, there is the feeling that it is either trying to be funny, or trying to be upsetting -- and, aside from a few moments where things fall into place perfectly, it does neither particularly well. Notes: If Gunther van Hagen's "Body Worlds" exhibit made you uncomfortable, you may not want to watch this movie. Or maybe you would. That Nikki is such a creepy, creepy looking doll only serves to show how utterly pathetic the male lead is. Even for a fake woman, she looks AWFUL. 5/10: It was better than the average schlock, and had some good scenes.

I saw this movie at its New York premier at the TriBeCa FIlm Festival, and I have inserted the description of the movie from the festival's website: "Insecure technical writer Kenneth (Desmond Harrington) learns so much about women from his silicone sex doll Nikki, whom he ordered over the Internet, that he gets noticed by flesh-and-blood co-worker Lisa (Melissa Sagemiller). It seems like the start of a beautiful thing, but first he must throw off the guilt with which Nikki is invading his subconscious. Parigi's bizarre love triangle examines the horrors of relationships and the changing nature of love in modern times with inspired creepiness." Based on this description, I eagerly expected to see an intelligent and mature story about a man's journey into alternative sexual identities and how he adapts to them. And for the first 2/3 of this movie we see excellent acting by Harrington and Sagemiller, and some fine cameos by Rip Torn. This portion of the movie is a quirky black comedy about budding romance. The portrayal of the "RealDoll" which has been shown on HBO's Real Sex and The Howard Stern Show was both surreal and delightfully bizarre. Then comes the last 1/3 of the movie, which inexplicably turns into a murderous gore-fest which inspired much of the audience to exit the theater. I should have joined them. Perhaps the film festival organizers dropped the ball in how they advertised this movie, but the filmakers dropped the ball by turning what was an intelligent dark romantic comedy into a cheap idiotic slasher flick. One other thing, I'm sick and tired of movies that portray anyone who engages in consensual alternative sex as either a serial killer or a victim of a serial killer. Despite the disappointing final act, I must say that both Harrington and Sagemiller should become superstars, and truly dominated the screen. Hopefully, they will be shown in roles which truly merit their talent.