-Written by Kyle Bain.
An eccentric young man grapples with the reality of the world in which he lives. His adopted sister, Buttercup (Lilla Kizlinger), yearns for him, his father has passed away, and his mother, Ethel (Eliza Roberts), who’s been institutionalized more than once, is incapable of running the household. The young man is known as Hippo (Kimball Farley), and he’s trying to figure out life.
I just don’t get it. Hippo is clearly a satire of sorts, making fun of the world and many of its norms–but I don’t understand what’s happening beneath the surface. I suppose you could read into the film and take away something regarding the psychopathy or the fall of man, about how we are all headed down a dreadful road from which we can’t turn back. I didn’t feel a strong connection to that, however–and I’m not sure if that's the purpose of this film. I struggled with this film on a metaphorical and figurative level–and that makes Hippo challenging to watch. It’s easy to lose focus when a film doesn’t mean anything to you–and that’s often the predicament in which I found myself, fighting to remain focused. That feeling is only exacerbated by the fact that everything moves so slowly. That’s not necessarily a criticism of the film, but it’s essential to note if you want to understand why the viewing experience is so challenging.
There’s a lot that I don’t like about Hippo, but there are some things that I genuinely appreciate about it as well. I enjoyed the narration brought to life by Eric Roberts, as his smooth, calm voice resonated with me and helped to tell this twisted tale. The majority of the dialogue is calm and slow–but Eric Roberts takes it a step further, being the all-knowing figure that tells this story. While variations of chaos ensue throughout the course of Hippo, Robert’s voice never falters, moving the film along at the exact same pace from beginning to end. While I don’t love the pace of Hippo, Writer-Director Mark H. Rapaport and Co-Writer Farley do exactly what they intended to do in this regard. Eric Roberts helps to regulate the insanity present in Hippo, and while the other actors do a wonderful job in their respective roles, I think that he is the star of the show.
Additionally, the film is full of brilliant cinematography. Truly artistic and masterful camerawork helps to bring Hippo to life, capturing its essence from beginning to end. The film remains dark (filmed entirely in black and white), and the work of Director of Photography William Babcock allows that darkness to seep into every fiber of the film.
Hippo really is a well-made film, though, one that I didn’t fall in love with the way that I had both hoped and expected. With that said, however, I fully understand that this film has value. Again, I struggled greatly with whatever the hidden meaning may have been, but there were many technical aspects of the film that greatly appealed to me. Hippo is not a film for the faint of heart, as the narrative only becomes increasingly strange as it progresses–though I do believe that a film this artistic warrants a viewing and that it will be widely accepted among cinephiles and artists alike.
Directed by Mark H. Rapaport.
Written by Mark H. Rapaport & Kimball Farley.
Starring Kimball Farley, Lilla Kizlinger, Eliza Roberts, Jesse Pimentel, Vann Barrett, & Eric Roberts.
7.5/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
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