The film had already won several awards in the US before premiering in Belize at the Belize International Film Festival 2012. Last night, it premiered here in San Pedro at our one and only movie theater.
We'd never been inside the theater before, and it was surprisingly nice, with a bar area, nice lounge, and concession stand. Again, I apologize for the quality of these images, but they will give you some idea of the place.
Why "Exquisite Corpse"?
Ben's idea for the film was that each friend would write one fifth of the movie, but each writer would only get to see the previous five pages of the part of the script that came immediately before his. As you might imagine, the potential for chaotic plot and schizophrenic character development was huge with this kind of ground rule, and the film delivered on that potential. But in a very good, humorous way.
Interspersed throughout, between actual movie scenes, is real-life documentary footage of the writers discussing the movie, both individually and together, as well as providing snippets into their lives and quirks. On the Facebook page for the film, it is billed as a "comedy, drama, documentary, thriller, action movie, buddy picture, heist flick". It is definitely all that and more. And it is laugh-out-loud funny. I totally want to see it again and share it with my family, who love quirky-but-smart humor as well. In short, this film rocks!
Of course we loved the brief documentary scenes of "Ben in Belize", showing the Ben we know on the beach, riding in a golf cart, or up in a coconut palm.
After the viewing, Ben and Joanna took a few audience questions up on the stage. One question was whether their next project might be made in Belize. Ben stated that it might very well, and if so, there would certainly be an open casting call. We'll probably pass on that, but it would certainly be fun to watch some of the "island characters" putting their best out there.
We skipped the after party at Caprice, which I am sure was well-attended, but it was a bit too late for we old farts, so we gratefully accepted a ride back up north with Ens and made our way home.
Find out more: Ben said the film will eventually be available for purchase or download from amazon, netflix, etc., so in the meantime, like their Facebook Page to stay in the loop for announcements.