Review: Super Dark Times

Image courtesy of The Orchard

Kevin Phillips' "Super Dark Times" is a skillfully made - and very dark - coming of age story set in the 1990s that recalls such great movies about youth as "Stand By Me," "Donnie Darko" and "River's Edge," although it's the third film that it most closely resembles.

Although there have been numerous films - most recently, "It" - that depict the somewhat unseemly way that young boys and male teenagers speak, a majority of the pictures that do so portray their protagonists as innocent - at least, to an extent. One of the many elements that makes "Super Dark Times" so chilling is that while the film includes the types of scenes that you might expect to find regarding teenage boys - for example, the inexperienced braggadocio involving sexual matters, sneaking peaks at porn videos that are filled with static almost to the point of being unwatchable and dopey arguments over which comic book character is the best - there's also a sense that some of these young men aren't just boys being boys, but rather are more troubled than they initially let on.

The picture updates the concept of Chekov's gun involving a samurai sword that leads to a tragedy and, in turn, leads to several more. Latchkey teenagers Zach (Owen Campbell), who is the more sensitive of the pair, and Josh (Charlie Tahan), who is less at ease in his skin than his friend and possibly more angry than he initially lets on, are best friends, but an early conversation during which they discuss a girl whom they both clearly like - Allison (Elizabeth Cappuccino) - signals a possible upcoming rift in their comradeship.

Occasionally, the two boys pal around with a middle schooler named Charlie (Sawyer Barth) and an obnoxious, overweight boy, Daryl (Max Talisman), who is clearly a source of annoyance for the group of young men. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that some stolen weed and the aforementioned weapon are snatched by the boys from Josh's older brother's room and tragedy accidentally strikes.

The film's first half is its strongest as Phillips, a cinematographer, utilizes what is known as the magic hour - the time just before the sunset goes down in the evening - to great effect. But rather than create an aura that is wistful - as many films about youth tend to do - it has a more sinister effect here. Much like David Lynch, whose recent "Twin Peaks" revival included numerous eerie overhead shots of wooded areas, Phillips uses the sun setting in small town America to create a sense of unease.

As the picture settles into its second half, the picture takes on a paranoid edge as the two boys begin to lose faith in each other and, simultaneously, vie for Allison's attentions. There are also some creepy dream sequences that signal us to the fact that Zach is troubled by the aforementioned tragedy, while Josh deals with it, well, in his own way.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers opt for a climax that feels more in line with a teenage slasher film than a dark drama such as "River's Edge," which also involved a group of youths who attempt to cover up the death of one of their compadres. Whereas that 1986 indie classic was a believable drama about the end of innocence, "Super Dark Times" - which, to be fair, has a fair amount to offer - ultimately devolves into a thriller about a sociopath and involves character leaps that I didn't quite buy. In other words, characters become what the plot requires, rather than doing so organically. Regardless, the film marks a notable - if imperfect and uneven - debut for Phillips, who clearly has talent behind the camera.