Warhol was one of the Official Selections from the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology’s 2024 festival that accepted the Filmmaker Mixer Podcast offer to review their work. It is a live action feature length film that follows three main plotlines: a radio show host who is slowly losing his mind, a homeless man who gets to know a stranger, and a group of strangers at a car contest. The radio show host is the thread that loosely ties these plotlines together and gives them thematic weight and is also the most compelling of the three plotlines.
The early part of the film is spent on establishing the characters and their stories, and following it is the buildup of tension. The end of the film is when tensions hit their peak and things go haywire. It’s awesome. I left this film almost lost for words.
The actors are all phenomenal, but I found Corey Johnson to be particularly standout as the radio show host Dave Dawson. He delivers the character with believability and humanity. He’s written to be an unlikeable jerk but is humanized at times and this performance really aids that idea.
The directing, lighting and visual story telling is great as well, but the script is probably the strongest aspect of the film. It’s just very effective at what it’s trying to do and makes a lot of really interesting points about modernity. I can see a lot of potential discussion arising from this film. It’s incredible and well worth your time.
-Madelyn, Filmmaker Mixer Correspondent
