Beguiled Company
Disaffected, nihilistic youth feels like an idea that filmmakers try to bring to the screen at least once a decade. Thinking about stuff like “A Clockwork Orange” and “Fight Club,” the notion of youthful frustrations with modern living is time-worn, but it also doesn’t always work. Part of the reason for that is that, do you show a change in the characters towards understanding the struggles of society, or do you just give in to the ultraviolence, and let chaos reign? Doing the former means you’re willing to tackle the film head on, but the execution may suffer, whereas with the latter, what are you trying to say about society, and these individuals? “Beguiled Company” opts for the latter, and it’s a misfire because of it.
This film’s writer-director, Tristan James Jensen, has some good ideas as a filmmaker; the last film of his I watched, “The Unearthing,” struggled in terms of production values, but had a strong story behind it that made it worth checking out. With this one, it seems like the pendulum has swung in the complete opposite direction- great production values, but a story that is a mess both narratively and thematically. That being said, it’s hard not to respect the swing, even if it feels like it is a rehash of ideas from better movies when all is said and done.
The main character of the film, Brenden (Chance Gilliam), likes to get high on Ketamine when he’s not working a minimum wage job at a restaurant, and not really much else. His dealer is into reading, and gets him into some books (where A Clockwork Orange is mentioned), but Brenden is someone who goes off of impulse, and needs a rush. When he gets fired, he and his friends knock over the place. Because of the rush, they go again, and again, getting more and more ambitious with each heist. At a certain point, however, their joy ride brand of criminality begins to target the wealthy, whose position allows them more freedom than people like Brenden and his friends, who have to struggle to even survive. The bigger the risks, the more risk it’s going to blow up in their face.
There’s a sequence about midway into “Beguiled Company” where Brenden and company get high, and seem to have LSD to go with their usual cocktail of drugs. Sex, drugs and a lot of deep thoughts go through their heads. This might give some people headaches, but the stunning cinematography by Jensen, combined with the music by Joe Voth, is a visual feast, and a challenge to the senses I welcomed gladly. I love this sequence unreservedly, and there are a couple of others, as well, that connected with me, especially one when they get pulled over, and their driver (who is Black), is assured enough to call out a police officer on the optics of pulling over a Black man because his car fits “a profile.” One of the film’s other major set pieces, at a country club, is also a great example of tension and release. Unfortunately, the latter points to some of the issues in the film- how does the Brenden’s ideology shift from being a slacker to a vigilante interested in sticking it to the system? That doesn’t feel laid out particularly strongly in the film’s screenplay, which seems to dive into the worst parts of “The Purge.” Just taking things on a visceral level, I can appreciate an audience liking what “Beguiled Company” is putting out there, and I think there’s at least half of an entertaining movie. Unfortunately, the film’s ideas seem to get lost in over-the-top action, and while some movies can get away with that, this one feels wedded to some of those ideas too much without developing them entirely.
