Heavy metal music blaring and a freak out over a busted Nintendo power glove, this is the first scene of dark indie comedy, Buzzard (2014), one of the several collaborations between Michigan based director Joel Potrykus and star Joshua Burge. I loved their last film together from 2018, the surreal Relaxer, and I was keen to see this, their earlier film, which Simon Barrett (screenwriter of The Guest) included in his great list of obscure movie recommendations. Burge plays Marty Jackitansky, a disgruntled temp at a bank who cares little for his actual work but applies himself to several schemes in bilking his work place (ordering office supplies and reselling them, for example). He’s like the Project Mayhem anarchist ideal but in a dickish form with matted hair, a love of horror movies and heavy metal, and a diet of garbage food. With his co-worker Derek (Potrykus), they trade infantile talk about old video games and snack related contests. Things come to a head when one of his misdemeanours strays into serious criminal theft, signing over some undelivered customer cheques to himself. Buzzard is a hilarious, pointed character study and overall satire on capitalism with Marty as someone who believes he’s smarter than the system, but then is immediately in over his head and out of his depth. Like a low-rent Taxi Driver, his brimming rage manifests in his hobby of recreating Freddy Kreuger’s glove of blades using his powerglove and kitchen knives (talk about a Chekov’s gun). There are plenty of jokes about these arrested man-children in Marty and Derek’s “dude” exchanges, but everything is kept grounded and never tips over into broad comedy. There’s a darkness on the edge of everything here and is no better exemplified than the long take of Marty stuffing his face with room service spaghetti in a fancy hotel he treats himself to. Burge is excellent in the lead, surly and agitated, a hilarious, pointed performance. I thought this was a great movie and to me, an awesome example of what indie cinema can accomplish. Much like Relaxer, it picks through pop and junk culture from another era and how these type of men identify with it, but creates something new, self-critical and funny with it. Available to stream on Tubi in Australia. Recommended.
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