Fantastic Fest ’11: Aardvark – Review

Reviews, Theatrical Reviews

Blind martial artist film not nearly as fun as you wish it would be

Aardvark, Kitao Sakurai’s debut feature film, is a frustrating movie to watch. The film, which despite its failures remains highly fascinating, has much about it that will draw audiences in. From the film’s characters, closely cut from the cloth of reality, to the beautiful cinematography and music, the film is worth viewing but, ultimately, it fails to live up to its potential.

Larry Lewis Jr. is at the centerpiece of Aardvark. Larry plays a slightly fictionalized version of himself; blind, a recovering alcoholic and a student of Jiu-Jitsu. Larry is a captivating presence on screen and would make a wonderful subject for a documentary. As with many of the actors in Aardvark, he is a non-actor; he hasn’t had formal training or an extensive resume. Instead, the character Larry plays is an extension of his real-life persona — taken from the confines of reality and put into an increasingly fantastical situation.

Co-starring with Larry is Darren Branch, Larry’s real life friend and Jiu-Jitsu instructor. Because Larry and Darren are friends in real life, their on-screen chemistry is always believable. The two work well together and it’s in scenes where Larry and Darren play off one another where the movie shines. A documentary exploring the two’s relationship and history could have been something truly special.

Sakurai, the Japanese-born, American-raised director, did not want to make a documentary, though. While Sakurai is to be commended for his experiment — taking real people and heightening their lives until they are transposed into the world of a traditional cinematic thriller, there remains something missing from the formula.

The story explores Larry’s growing friendship with Darren and the satisfaction he finds in martial arts juxtaposed with his struggle to find serenity as he is taken deeper and deeper into the dark world of late night “jobs,” strip clubs and murder that Darren spends his free time in. Sakurai handles this story with a documentarian’s eye.

The film has a naturalistic feel to its aesthetic. While the plot certainly acknowledges the traditional Hollywood formulas, the film isn’t flashy or neatly packaged like so much of the drek that gets called a thriller and shipped out to theaters. The camera, under Sakurai’s direction, feels like an invisible observer rather than an instigator — sometimes we are left to follow a person as they meander through a dimly lit street and other times audiences spy on the film’s characters in their moments of weakness. The camera doesn’t offer explanations to everything we see and Sakurai isn’t interested in the audience being given the answer to every question. The film, true to its naturalistic approach, feels more like a brief glimpse into the lives of two characters as opposed to a true story.

Aardvark is a very fascinating film but it’s not fantastic or even really a lot of fun to watch. The film is worth seeing eventually but maybe not during Fantastic Fest, a film festival where every moment counts.

Director: Kitao Sakurai
Notable Cast: Larry Lewis Jr. and Darren Branch
Writer: Kitao Sakurai

Robert Saucedo is an avid movie watcher with seriously poor sleeping habits. The Mikey from Life cereal of film fans, Robert will watch just about anything — good, bad or ugly. He has written about film for newspapers, radio and online for the last 10 years. This has taken a toll on his sanity — of that you can be sure. Follow him on Twitter at @robsaucedo2500.