Flapjax

Bluesky

In most of the service industry there is a big gap between how corporate owners would like their staff to behave and anything reminiscent of human nature. it’s a rare personality type that can genuinely feel fulfilled by a life devoted to providing customers with access to identikit mediocre fast food products, and yet every now and again there comes a hero whom the industry really ought to value more. Such a man is Arrow (Gabriel Cagan), who wakes up every day with intense excitement about his management duties at the local branch of Hamudders. He’s always bursting with ideas, and manages to push the dearth of actual customers to the back of his mind.

Arrow’s happy life hits a crisis point when best friend and co-worker Louie (Madeline Barbush) reveals that she’s preparing for a change of career. To make things worse, he learns that the very future of the outlet could be under threat due to its lack of profitability. One piece of news really excites him, however. In an attempt to overcome the downturn, Hamudders is going to bring back one of its all time most popular products. Now with a new recipe and a more exciting spelling, flapjax are coming back – and his restaurant has been chosen for the relaunch.

Like the inevitable town festival during a monster attack movie, the launch becomes the focal point for Arrow’s dreams and for the audience’s expectation that everything is about to go spectacularly haywire. When it happens, the latter will not be disappointed – they certainly weren’t at Fantastic Fest, where the film had its première – but it takes a long time to get there. The first half of the film feels heavily padded, with a lot of scenes which go nowhere in particular, contributing to neither character nor plot. The film took six years to make and one gets the impression that this led to a lot of treasured ideas being included which the team then felt unable to cut. This is often painful, but the film’s weak structure does a serious disservice to the great work in the second half.

The other major character in the film is Arrow’s mother, Eleanor (Georgia Kate Haege), whose past success as a one hit wonder pop star becomes pertinent when a celebrity is needed to draw attention to the launch. Intensely critical of her son, and also intensely possessive, she is the only influence in his life to rival the increasingly sinister Hamudders, but her own ferocious appetite for flapjax could lead to ruin for everyone. Meanwhile, a subplot in which a scientist repents his contribution to the brand and desperately tries to blow the whistle gives an early indication of the gore in store.

The influence of Peter Jackson’s early hit Bad Taste is heavily felt throughout the film, though aspects of the latter half have more in common with the work of Brian Yuzna. Effects technology has advanced considerably since their heyday, however, and some of the ideas they experimented with are now able to be taken a lot further. Director Rocko Zevenbergen, who has done time with Troma, is not big on restraint. The latter part of the film rapidly devolves into a no-holds-barred celebration of gluttony and mutation, in all the best ways. At this point, overindulgence becomes a positive asset, and though the ending could do with being tightened up a bit, it’s very enjoyable. You’ll just need patience to get there.

Source