“I’ll hurt you, and I won’t be able to help it.” These are words nobody wants to hear at the beginning of a relationship. Yet, they don’t always keep us away. Maybe it’s easier not to believe it, or it’s the harsh reality that we just can’t escape getting hurt. The way relationships work is, no matter how special they were in the beginning, they end.
Like in many cliché love-story films, if the protagonist were to be going through a painful breakup, by the middle of the second act, he/she would already be meeting the “love of their life.” Few films address the aftermath of getting your heart broken. Why would they if we live in an age where we breakup, we self-medicate, we create a match.com account and find ourselves a compatible partner. But that can get real boring real fast.
Evan Glodell’s Bellflower, is one of this year’s rare indie gems that will have you saying “What the hell...” in an awed kind of way. This disturbingly powerful and morbid film takes a conventional idea and dives into a fantasy portrayal of love’s deadly vigor.
The film follows two friends, Woodrow (Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson), who spend their days building flamethrowers and the ultimate badass car for their imaginary gang, Mother Medusa, in hope to dominate in a coming apocalypse. Before all hell breaks loose, Woodrow falls deeply in love with Milly (Jessie Wiseman), until slowly driving them on a venture of betrayal, heartbreak, extreme violence and disdain. Fueled by intense performances and a character-driven plot, writer/director Glodell takes us on a heightened look at the inability to understand the pain of a breakup.
Like many before him, Glodell came to California in the pursuit of being a filmmaker with a series of short videos and his work as a cinematographer under his belt, all the while struggling to get Bellflower on the map. Loosely based on Glodell’s personal breakup experience (If you watch the film, you’ll see why I say loosely.), the film began as raw feelings put to paper. After finishing the first draft, it was locked away for a couple of years, but never forgotten.
“I never stopped thinking about it. I wrote the first version, got ideas, made changes for the better as I got older,” says Glodell.
He continued to do rewrites, every time approaching the characters and story with a truer perspective, and always keeping the original idea as the core structure for the film. All in all, it took approximately five years to finally get the movie done.
“I didn’t have the resources. After four years, I realized nobody was gonna give me money, because I didn’t know anybody. I hadn’t proved myself, I guess. So I decided to make the movie with no money,” he says.
His feature-length directorial debut, took a lot out of Glodell, who with a small crew took on quadruple roles during the production of the film. Casting was crucial for such an intimate undertaking.
“Since it was so personal, I didn’t know I was the best actor. It would bring something extra that I didn’t know what it was,” Glodell shares. “I was mostly worried about the character of Aiden, because it had to be a very specific person, sincere, supporting character, yet an asshole.”
With a low budget, no legal permits and no rules, the film seemed destined for failure. With no gas money or food for the cast and crew, everyone sacrificed something to keep production going. Glodell used all available resources, even selling his personal items to fund the film. Aside from having to build a fully functional flamethrower, the Medusa car was his most difficult challenge.
“It meant building all night, shooting all day, working on the car at night. The engine blew up before shooting; it took nine months before there was solution.”
The film’s split into two very different extremes was thrilling to watch. As it gets more bloody and dark, the true irony is that love’s cryptic side could be more dangerous and deadly than the apocalypse itself.
“The darkness doesn’t necessarily equal evil, the ending is a hopeful ending. In a twisted way,” says Glodell.
Overall, Bellflower is the must-see movie of the year. It will leave you asking for more.
Visit the Official Website
Opens at the Nuart in West L.A. and the Angelika in New York on August 5!
Coming soon to a theater near you!
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