In Lovely by Surprise an author struggling with writer’s block goes to her mentor (and ex-lover) for advice. When he suggests she kill one of her characters, the border between her reality, her past, and the characters in the book begin to disappear. Soon it’s hard to tell what is real and what is not. It never makes it to the level of surrealism, but it is not firmly anchored to reality either.
Marian is writing about Humkin and Mopekey, two man-boys living on a houseboat in the middle of a field, eating nothing but cereal and milk. Marian has given Humkin the ability to know his fate… and that it is Marian that controls his fate. There is also a storyline involving Bob, a car salesman who spends more time talking people out of buying cars than selling them, and his silent daughter Mimi. In time the storylines intermingle—fictional with real life, present and past.
There are aspects of the film that remind me of the Polish Brothers’ films: Twin Falls, Idaho; Jackpot; and Northfolk. It’s not just the bizarre nature of the stories that evoke these films; the way some of the shots are structured brought the Polish Brothers’ works to mind. Even the overbroad acting suitable to the farcical character of the film is at times similar to those films. But Lovely by Surprise lacks the depth and refinement of those works. It is all a bit too abrupt, especially the ending, and disjointed to be able to allow the viewer to get into the film. While it tries to raise some interesting questions, the issues never really develop and end up buried in the overly strange situations and sense of despair that permeates the film.
The film is something of a dark farce. Farce usually connotes comedy, but the darker nature keeps what would usually seem like humor somewhat muted. Instead we get a bizarre world in which we are never sure how the storylines really connect. Obviously we can tell that Humkin and Mopekey are fictional and we know Marian is writing about them, but what is going on when Humkin escapes from that fictional world? How does that relate to Bob’s existential crisis and Mimi’s withdrawal? What do Bob and Mimi have to do with Marian? The story does begin to bring these strands together, and we may even think we know what is happening, but I have to admit when I got to the end I only felt lost. (I did go back and watch the last half of the film going backwards and think I have a grasp on the ending, but it’s a slippery grip at best.)
The film’s writer/director Kirk Gunn won a New American Cinema Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival, recognizing new filmmakers of promise. I agree that the promise is there. This film shows the potential of better things to come.
