Thanks for the memories!

Brilliant and touching

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Lonely crime scene photographer Aiden (Josh Lawson), after years of taking pictures of murder victims on the decaying streets of Detroit, is fast losing his grip. Retreating into fantasy as a mechanism to cope with capturing the horrific images that make him a living, he imagines himself as the hero of the hour in various daydreams. Increasingly under pressure from the conflicting voices in his head, his dark, vengeful side grows along with a simmering frustration at his own cowardice and social awkwardness. After meeting attractive neighbour Virginia (Emma Lung) and sparking a curious relationship with her, Aiden becomes ever bolder in attempting to make his daydreams a reality. However, being the hero isn't quite as easy as he has imagined it to be.Crave initially begins with a stylish appearance and swathes of jet black yet gleefully malevolent humour. However, the character of Aiden is very underwritten, despite a strong performance from Lawson and this seems to be the story of the film as a whole. From it's visually arresting and intriguing opening, the film quickly finds itself going nowhere.There is little meat to the bones of the script with the storyline just plodding around, seemingly waiting for some time to pass so it can get to the final third. Director Charles de Lauzarika would appear to have thrown everything at the final half hour or so, with things getting increasingly ludicrous as the possibly schizophrenic Aiden blunders from one catastrophe to the next. The problem is, with so little attention being given to the script and direction of the middle third of the movie, you increasingly find yourself becoming rather disinterested as the plot is meandering and lacking in substance for much of the running time.This is a shame really, as there are flashes throughout of de Lauzarika's flair and inventiveness, helping to sometimes bring the film out of mediocrity. Unfortunately, Ron Perlman is wasted as Aiden's homicide detective friend, as well as the increasingly bizarre Edward Furlong. Lung does well as Aiden's love interest, however all the supporting parts are as woefully underwritten as the lead character's. The soundtrack to the movie is just as skeletal, all synths with plenty of treble and reverb, but with nothing that you would ever recall.Stylistically, Crave is a nicely filmed piece of work, with strong cinematography and a moody yet macabre feel. However, it's rendered distinctly average fare thanks to such a threadbare script that not even a talented cast like this can get much out of. Ultimately, Crave is as entirely soulless as the crime ridden streets in which it's set.

I expected this film to be in the vein of those early 1980s urban vigilante films such as Ms 45 or The Exterminator. A schlock B movie trying to say something important but just gives you more violence that it wants to decry.Australian actor Josh Lawson plays Aidan a crime photographer working in Detroit. He is a recovering alcoholic and prone to fantasies where he takes on minor criminals and gets applauded by the public.Aidan has has a relationship with a young girl at the same apartment block, Virginia (another Australian actress, Emma Lung). The relationship makes him happy and confidant but it threatens to be short lived. Ron Perlman plays a police detective who is also a recovering alcoholic and who he also confides in as they meet up regularly in crime scenes.Aidan decides enough is enough and acts out his fantasies by taking on some low life villains but finds out being the vigilante man is not easy. Things take an unsavoury turn when he gets involved in a tussle with Virginia's boyfriend Pete (Edward Furlong) that leads him to bewilderment.Its clear Aidan is a loner, unsociable and damaged. He usually says the wrong things to Virginia and has retreated to his fantasy life where he hears voices.A director such as Abel Ferrara would had made this film entertaining with some added social comment and it would had gathered a cult appeal. However what we have here is an overlong low budget film that meanders and gets nowhere fast. Half way through you realise that the film has another hour to go and you already think that its gone on for two hours.I cannot fault the actors who do their best with the material but the screenplay is poor and the direction is pedestrian.

The surface story is .. 'A downtrodden photographer, haunted by the urban violence and decay around him, retreats into an inner world of dark fantasies.' But that is just the marketing phrase to get the attention of the public.This marvelous film is just chock full of symbolism, and what gave me the lead is the setting - Detroit! Detroit - a once vibrant and wealthy industrial city now suffering under corporate self imposed decay and debt - Detroit still has wealth but the shine is soiled by the blight within it - Detroit is America today.Aiden - the photographer - symbolizes government or the people in America. We know right from wrong, we are a nice people at heart, just as Aiden is. But America fantasizes so often of being 'the avenger of the wronged and oppressed' and when we take action we so often get it all wrong and then do not understand why others in the world don't trust us.Virginia - the girl next door - she symbolizes the American psychological take on our friends, our allies. There is more to her than Aiden is willing to see (or unable to see) and doesn't understand her reaction when he inappropriately reacts to a situation. Even though America has many allies they are often put off by our inappropriate response to an international event.Pete - the policeman - symbolizes what Americans know about themselves and others! We can feed the good wolf or the bad wolf. Pete is the collective conscientiousness of the often indecisiveness of America, - when America knows which decision is rightful.Barry - the rich corporate business man - symbolizes the corporations and politicians (or politics) in America. It's only concern is for itself and when they are caught cheating, as happened to Barry, they can buy their freedom and are never held responsible for their degrading actions to the working class (the girl in the cheap motel).Ravi - the boyfriend of Virginia - he represents the people America has wronged by assault and war. Then we come running to help, as Aiden did to Ravi after shooting him, only to discover it's too late.'Crave' is a two hour movie, but I was fascinated by Aiden and never knowing which way he will turn before he finds the gun. After the gun he feels empowered but it just makes his life worse. Even though Aiden is not caught for his crimes his mental world will continue to torture him. America is Aiden, we haven't been punished for our crimes either!

No, Aiden. This is real"Crave" is a pretty dark and gloomy movie. It's a precise characterization of the photographer Aiden (Josh Lawson). He makes pictures of victims at a crime scene, as a hobby or as a job (That wasn't entirely clear to me). As the film progresses, it's obvious that he has a kind of split personality and imagines himself to be a guardian angel in a society that is desolate, violent and ruthless. One time he sees himself as the protector of a girl on the subway who got hassled by two punks. Another day he fantasizes that he uses a sledge hammer on some guy who is talking disturbingly loud to someone else at an AA meeting. Actually these are all situations everyone goes through once and a while and where we think about afterwards and wonder how it would be if we reacted in such a way like Aiden did. At a certain moment Aiden dares to protest against a pushy woman in a supermarket. Afterwards you see him driving home with a satisfied smile. He always meets the same detective Pete (Ron Perlman) at a crime scene or an AA meeting. Both are converted alcoholics and I guess for a long time already non-drinkers. Perlman plays his character sober and restrained. He's not afraid to bury Aiden under a lot of advice and life skills.Aiden meets his neighbor Virginia (Emma Lung) who has a complicated relationship with Ravi (Edward Furlong). The latter still has the youthful appearance since "Terminator 2". Aiden and Virginia start a turbulent relationship, although Virginia rather keeps a distance. They break up after attending an abstract play where Aiden couldn't help to make a remark about it (Actually I would make the same remark in such a situation). From that moment on it clearly goes the wrong way. The revolver, which he took after a robber left it behind, turns out to be a deadly weapon in his hands.Josh Lawson plays his role beautifully. He's really a sad character who can be funny and witty sometimes , but at the same time leaves a melancholic and depressive impression. This would-be hero is ultimately a coward. Charles de Lauzerika manages to make an obscure dark movie. Until the end of the movie this was the overall atmosphere you felt about this movie : Dark,gloomy and depressing. Until the moment Furlong gets out his body-bag and gives a thumbs-up gesture. That changed the whole atmosphere of the movie and gave it at that time an absurdly sinister turn. There's a scene in the movie I thought was a brilliant masterpiece. When Aiden finally manages to conquer Virginia and ends up in bed with her, we go back to the moment where it all started, and we assume that it was a fantasy again. Then Aiden stares at the camera and says : "No, Aiden This is real.". Damn surprising and funny! Many will see this as a boring slow movie without any action. I thought it was a strong effort to show the process of how someones fantasy world slowly becomes reality. Without the twist at the end and a less open ending, I would have appreciated it more. The thing I still need to mention is the fact that I didn't expect a chainsaw gore-element in this kind of movie. Nice though !More reviews at : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be or http://meningvanfilmfreak.blogspot.be