By Robert Scucci
| Revealed
In each single considered one of his films, Neil Breen portrays a tragic hero with godlike powers who takes it upon himself to save lots of the world from itself by mystical, inexplicable skills that most of the time make no sense. 2016’s Cross Through clings to this formulation and makes for an entertaining look ahead to followers of outsider filmmaking.
Whereas most Breeniacs like myself would level to 2005’s Double Down and 2012’s Fateful Findings as his most interesting works, Cross Through is just not with out its attraction. However be warned, as a result of it’s additionally considered one of Breen’s most disjointed items in his complete filmography, and that’s saying loads.
“The message is just too highly effective to be captured on movie.”
Right here, we’ve got an ominous floating crimson dot that serves no actual goal, a tiger that sometimes exhibits up within the Nevada desert for causes by no means defined, and cans of beans littering the panorama. Corrupt insurance coverage, financial institution, and media “presidents” overtly lay out their plans to be corrupt and immoral, however Neil Breen’s Thgil (mild spelled backwards), an extraterrestrial AI lifeform despatched to Earth to make it a greater place, is right here to save lots of the day.
It’s No Double Down, However We’ll Take It
Like most Breen joints, Cross Through is rife with sprawling desert photographs, ramshackle sound design, and preachy monologues concerning the state of the world and the way Neil Breen, carrying his most interesting Canadian tuxedo, is the one being in existence who can usher in a brand new age of enlightenment. Self-satisfaction apart, we get a multitude of a narrative that begins with a bunch of anonymous immigrants packed into the again of a truck and carted off to an undisclosed location by enforcers who’re alleged to spherical them up and ship them again to the international locations they escaped from.
By means of Breen’s narrations, we be taught that he’s an AI lifeform from a far-off galaxy despatched to Earth particularly to remove 300 million “dangerous individuals” by an incredible cleaning. The issue is that in his human kind, he turns into a heroin addict who sleeps in rubbish when he’s not consuming canned meals in his trailer house. He befriends Amanda (Kathy Corpus) and her niece, Kim (Chaize Macklin), who’re reluctant to stick with him in his trailer regardless that he claims to be “the longer term,” after completely rounding up his rubbish to make his house extra welcoming.
In the meantime, a boy astronomer (Abraham Rodriguez), two woman astronomers (Taylor Sydney and Taylor Johnson), and their wheelchair-bound professor (James D. Smith) head out to the desert in the hunt for a glowing crimson dot that appears like a damaged pixel in your display, however seems with goal regardless of that goal by no means being correctly spelled out.
In some way, all of those separate storylines converge when Thgil takes over a information broadcast to let all the human race know the way primitive they’re, and once more when he exhibits up at a mansion to inform numerous authorities officers and business presidents that they’re corrupt. Shortly thereafter, CGI explosions burn within the background as Neil Breen walks away from the wreckage with out ever trying again.
Not One Of The Classics, However A Departure Level
Whereas Cross Through is distinctly a Neil Breen movie, it pales compared to its predecessor, Fateful Findings. That movie is rooted in company espionage, authorities secrets and techniques, and dozens of laptops getting destroyed as our hero vows to show the corruption operating rampant on this world.
All the identical trappings of self-importance and disgust with the trendy world are nonetheless there, however Cross Through fails to stay the touchdown as a result of there are just too many shifting components. For a movie that individuals like me actively hunt down as a result of it’s so laughably horrible in each conceivable manner, there’s a definite lack of attraction right here, and I can’t fairly put my finger on what’s lacking.
If Neil Breen have been a musician, Cross Through can be his departure album. He’s been to the desert and to far-off galaxies by bending house and time as we all know it on a number of events. That is the final movie he shoots totally on location earlier than changing into a grasp of the inexperienced display with movies like Twisted Pair and Cade: The Tortured Crossingso what we’re seeing right here appears like an artificially clever being struggling to succeed in his remaining kind by standard means. The message is just too highly effective to be captured on movie. No less than that’s the narrative I’m going with.
For those who’re a fan of Neil Breen’s work, Cross Through is crucial viewing. Simply know that it’s not his most interesting hour. To witness what Breen calls a “visionary, revolutionary movie which pushes the human species to the bounds of controversial, thought-provoking actions,” you’ll be able to be taught extra about it on his web site.
