Behind the pretty straightforward title Lowlife hides a bizarre crime comedy in the vein of Pulp Fiction. I reference one of Tarantino’s best movies just to give you some indication of what direction the story will be going. Otherwise, this is an entirely different, gritty, and much more impactful movie. The title Lowlife kind of says it all as we will be following several characters living a life of crime in one of Los Angeles’s poorest neighborhoods. As you can already guess, all of their stories will merge into one as the plot progresses forward and we get to know them better. And right away I have to tell you to get ready for some fucked up shit.
Lowlife is a fucked up movie, no doubt about that. So you can count on some pretty graphic scenes and themes. What makes them feel even more jarring are the quality of the production values and superb practical effects. Something you’re going to notice straight away as the introduction almost feels like a horror movie. This is also the place where we’re going to meet some of our protagonists. First up is a vicious criminal Teddy ‘Bear’ Haynes, a despicable excuse for a human being willing to do anything to turn a profit. His right-hand man is a former luchador El Monstruo, a man who vowed to never take off his wrestling mask.
The two of them will soon cross paths with several other people living a life of crime. And all of this will culminate in one hell of a finale. To combat the seriousness of the situation, Lowlife uses pitch-black humor weaponizing and poking fun at everything. This also helps enormously with character development. Moreover, it humanizes these people whom you might think are awful at first glance. Soon, you’ll realize there’s more to them than meets the eye. Well, that goes for almost all the characters except Teddy Bear, he’s a royal piece of shit that should’ve been in prison or dead a long time ago.
However, that’s the world we live in. The movie approaches this rather realistically bleak picture with energy and without bias. In that sense, it reminded me of another bizarre movie, the eighties cult classic Street Trash. I am yet to write about that movie because I need to be psychologically ready for such a taxing undertaking. Getting back to the movie we’re talking about today, I just love that it’s this edgy and willing to go the distance. Although it felt like one of those “indie festival movies” those vibes were entirely gone when the title Lowlife appeared.
Moreover, in the next few minutes, I thought that I must’ve played the wrong movie because there was nothing darkly comical about the stuff I was seeing. Then again when we got to those parts they seemed a bit clunky and sometimes even a bit pretentious. Luckily, there are enough twists, weird situations, and jokes to keep your eyes peeled on the screen. The running time is 90 minutes and the movie is divided into several segments. Of course, those segments are based on the characters and all of this makes Lowlife a movie worth watching. On top of all of this, we have a highly committed cast.
In the lead role, we find Mark Burnham who was in Quentin Dupieux’s surrealist crime comedy Wrong Cops. Ricardo Adam Zarate was excellent as El Monstruo but Jon Oswald as Randy stole the show here. Once he shows up, the whole movie becomes that much better. He’s the thing that helped bring this strange story to its logical conclusion. So, if you’re looking for something unorthodox and yet also entertaining, do check out Lowlife. It’s a blast. And if you’re looking for similar movies, the first one you could take a look at is High Life. You can then move on to Weirdsville and Lucky Day.
Director: Ryan Prows
Writers: Tim Cairo, Jake Gibson, Shaye Ogbonna
Cast: Mark Burnham, Ricardo Adam Zarate, Shaye Ogbonna, Nicki Micheaux, Jon Oswald
Fun Facts: Quentin Tarantino attended the premiere of the movie although it’s not known if he liked it.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7012864/
