DVDebut: Weirdos run riot in Dusty Bias' fresh-frozen "bizarrosity," PRAIRIE LOVE

I suppose it had to happen, but it still came as a shock: At long last, TrustMovies and his oft-spoken-of companion sat through a movie from that never-miss distributor, Film Movement, that actually, uh... missed. Even so, the 80-minute, mindless mind-bender called PRAIRIE LOVE is so damned bizarre that, for movie-lovers who demand something different above all else, TM feels he almost has to recommend that you try it. How did this extremely odd movie come into being? After a viewing, it seemed to me that the filmmaker/director/co-writer Dusty Bias (shown below) and his co-writers, Ashley Martin and Holly Lynn Ellis (the latter also stars in the film), decided to reach for the single most bizarre group of characters they could create -- and then made sure they neglected to answer the most-likely-to-be-asked questions about each. I can imagine the little group chortling, "That'll keep 'em off-balance!"
It does indeed.

Consequently viewers will either accept what they see and go with it, or finally cry uncle when it becomes clear that "character" as we know it has pretty much gone missing. This means that the actions, which arrive thick and fast and generally unhinged, proceed from three people who may be the most anti-social critters ever seen on screen. (Or if not anti-social, then completely bereft of any kind of social interaction skills over the course of their life.) In other words, what we have here is weirdness for weirdness' sake. This is not uninteresting, however: People this bizarre demand attention, of course. It is only after the fact that you may feel that your attention has somehow been filched.

Mr. Bias (interesting name!) gives us three characters: one he calls the Vagrant, played by Jeremy Clark, above, right, (until well over mid-way through I didn't realize that this was actually his "status"); the girl, played by Ms Ellis, above, left (something like a 20-year prison sentence is her excuse for weirdness, but that takes us, and her, only so far); and a fellow named NoDak (newcomer Garth Blomberg, below, in his tightie-white-ies) who has, unfortunately, the least character of all and so raises the most red flags.

These three interact -- if not physically and verbally, at least via letters -- and the outcome is, ummmm... iffy. Consequently the movie seems, finally, to be more manipulative than anything else. Yet, as I say, the weirdness is so strong and so constant that it does indeed hold you, even as you ask for more. And the director certainly has a good sense of how to capture the area visually. Mr. Bias grew up around these parts, and if you choose to read his statement in the press package, as I did (you can open it here), you may think that he had the kind of childhood that might have resulted in his becoming any of these three people. (If you do read the press package, do so after you've seen the movie.)

Prairie Love, has recently become available on DVD, and can also be viewed via VOD streaming from FilmMovement, for purchase or for rental. (And you do not have to become a Film Movement member to rent or purchase.) Simply click here -- and follow directions.