'TUSK': The Mourning of an Individual Loosing his Humanity
This Friday September 19, 2014 the movie Tusk starring Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez and Michael Parks will be playing in theaters. The story of an American Podcaster (Wallace) who goes to Canada to interview "Kill Bill Kid" only to discover that his interview subject died. Annoyed, and looking for a new story to talk about on his podcast Wallace stops at a local bar and finds a strange letter on the information board of the bathroom offering free lodging at the home of an old man (Howe) who has many stories to tell of his sailing years. Excited about the prospect of a new story Wallace calls the old man and takes him up on the offer.
As the story moves along we discover that this old man is a mad sailor who has an infatuation with a walrus. The movie then continues with extended dialogue and flashbacks of the stories that the old man tells Wallace. With little time passing by Wallace falls unconscious to the ground and this is where the suspense in the movie begins to happen in which we figured out that this old man wants to turn Wallace into a walrus. You need to have an imagination to understand how you can turn a human into a walrus and if it's even possible.
The transformation from human into a walrus that actor Justin Long (Wallace) had to go through was very emotional and physically exhausting. The feeling of being in a latex costume, enclosed, being hot at all times, having little to no mobility and being claustrophobic was what the actor needed to convey the emotion of a human loosing his humanity. It is very emotional and heart breaking to see how a human finds himself little by little being turned into a walrus and how he mourns the lost of himself once being human.
The trailer of this movie gives you this eery, gory and scary feeling, but this movie is nothing like what the trailer plays to be. Knowing the history of Kevin Smiths' movie trajectory you will find some moments of humor, suspense and creative dialogue that makes this movie transcend to a horror comedy.
In this film you will find Hayle Joel Osment playing the role of Teddy and Genesis Rodriguez the Latina actress daughter of "El Puma" in the role of Allison. They both work together in the film and make a great team as concerned friends in the mysterious disappearance of their friend Wallace.
In this film you will also see Johnny Depp who takes the third act and blows you away with his performance and the character choices he makes as an actor. Michael Parks who plays the old man (Howe) does not fall behind in his performance in which he takes you into a world where only your imagination can take you with his great dialogue and the emotions that he evokes, leaving us wondering is he really crazy, or just a poor old man who has been traumatized by his life experiences.
To those who are looking to experience suspense, excitement, amazing actors, horror and comedy, Tusk is one of the films to see this month. Kevin Smith, the director, and all the other actors in this movie do not disappoint. You have to wonder how can you turn a human into a walrus and what would it look like... that is a question that can only be answered if you go and see Tusk.