Four Eyed Monsters (2007)

Rated R for Sexual Content and Language.
Running Time: 73 mins.
Directed by: Susan Buice, Arin Crumley
Cast: Arin Crumley, Susan Buice

Everyday somebody meets someone online. Whether it's on Myspace or Yahoo! or in some trashy chat room. People talk online, sometimes meet, some people end up being child molesters or some kind of pervert, some wind up being the actual love of your life. In "Four Eyed Monsters", none of those are actually the case. It never seems that its characters, Arin and Susan, are actually in love after they meet on Myspace. In actuality, they realize that they just need one another just to help spread the word. The film is actually not really easy to take and is often painful, but also quite powerful in its own aspect.

We open the film on the kind of tone of a lame brain commercial where we see happy couples who've met on Myspace and meet the depressed ones, the horny ones, the happy ones... This opening may range on being called cheesy or corny but instead, it heightens tension with your thoughts. When you are on Myspace, do you ever look at the pictures of people you don't know and wonder - how do they feel? What do they go through that I don't? It's a very interesting concept. And it's actually a brave one too.

Arin and Susan play themselves in the film and they claim it is a true autobiography mixed with actual documented footage with some artistic installments including moving pictures used to awe you along with its truly artistic vision. The story of Arin is pretty emotional dealing with how he has fantasies of high sexual desire and cannot seem to find the right note to have sex with. He dreams of women all the time and hopes he can get laid from somebody he meets on Myspace. He claims to have only slept with three women ... all who state that Arin was dull in bed and really had no clue of what to do. Susan's story is just as painful because she is the complete opposite. She loves sex, feels like it is something to calm her nerves because her dreams of being an artist have been shattered thanks to a art school that denies her of any artistic quality.

Both people meet on Myspace and only communicate by passing a paper back and forth, writing little notes that remind me of a time back in fifth grade. They do this childish but lovingly romantic way of communicating in such a beautiful way and they begin to learn more and more about one another. Without being the traditional sappy filled in most romantic comedies today. This is obviously weird, but greatly profound and utterly romantic. Far more lovely than most crap you see today.

As their relationship grows more and more you realize they have fallen for each other, and when she departs for art school (which winds up wasting her precious time with Arin), they begin to send tapes they have recorded back and forth. They are quite artistic, one ranging on Susan, bundled up completely naked in the corner, discussing what it is she does and does not like to eat. It's Susan's way of expressing herself and Arin realizes her vision and shares it with her.

A lot of things, however, do tear the two apart. Including a subplot with Arin that ranges on beautifully artsy, but gut-wrenchingly depressing. The two are in love even when it seems they are not. But maybe they aren't in love at all. It's really hard to decide. "Four Eyed Monsters" resolves with a quite riveting conclusion. Looking back you realize that the movie is buried beneath you. After finishing the film it's very hard to stop thinking about it because it is so realistic you can't help but feel that you know Arin and Susan. I care for them just as much as I care for the movie. And I do believe any Myspacer looking for love would too.

- Douglas Reese
Friday, August 17, 2007