Red Velvet (2009) - 3.5/4

There's a moment in Red Velvet in which the two main characters, Aaron (Henry Thomas of ET fame) and Linda (Kelli Garner), are folding clothes. He folds one of her shirts casually and puts it on a pile. When she finishes what she's been folding, she casually opens the shirt he just folded and refolds. It's never mentioned by the characters and there's no cut to the action; it just happens. Not only is the film made up of such clever touches, it's more subtle than one might think.

Red Velvet is in a sense all about refolding, but of the narrative. When surly loner Aaron is accosted by his neighbour Linda in the laundromat, they strike up an uneasy acquaintanceship mostly based on sarcastic barbs, but they go out for lunch. There he, a writer, begins trying to tell her a horror story, which we see visually. Each time he tells a story she comments on a flaw, such as the tameness or the presence of cliches, and he revamps his story--the story which just happens to be about a maniac killing all of her friends at a cabin-in-the-woods birthday party she couldn't attend.

One would think there would be difficulty sticking with Red Velvet. At first it reminded me of old Superman comics from the '60s. They did preposterous things with Superman, but printed on the cover, "An imaginary adventure," implying that what was happening in the story isn't really happening to Superman--we're just pretending. One wonders, 'Then why read it?' Similarly, since much of Red Velvet is made up of a story within a story, one might wonder 'Why keep watching?' All I can say is there's payoff to those who stick with it. As the layers of the story begin overtaking the narrative, the characters find themselves in danger of not being able to get out of the story.



Of course, I didn't know that while I was watching the film. What convinced me to stick with it were the excellently written and acted characters. They're both rather rude people, but, like Basil Fawlty or Blackadder, they're very funny. Their banter is somehow both realistic and unreal; they're odd people, to say the least. Aaron's story and Linda's revisions often result in (knowingly) ridiculous moments that made me laugh out loud.

A film as self-conscious about cliches as this one is, naturally, doesn't fall into very many, except knowingly. It is a very original film, in fact. Original, yet being all about horror, the power of the imagination, and storytelling, it draws on previous horror imaginations. The style is reminiscent of Argento with some David Lynch (the title might have been a clue: Deep Red meets Blue Velvet).

Red Velvet is a witty, original, playful film that will certainly encourage rewatching with its confusing final ten minutes. It is also sometimes surprisingly suspenseful, leaving me wondering why the story within the story had any affect on me at all if I know it's fake. But then, why does any film have an affect on me at all when I know it's fake?