Zero Day (2003)
Note: Spoilers.
The ending is revealed in this review.
"Zero Day" is a Columbine movie.
Sadly, it looks like we are going to be treated to
a few of these films, which look at teenagers who
go on a rampage, a killing spree, at their schools.
Gus Van Sant has "Elephant" coming on the same topic.
Blockbuster Video is entering the realm of theatrically
releasing films with "Home Room," about two girls
who survive an attack by a student at their high school.
Michael Moore struck documentary gold with "Bowling
for Columbine." (Jesus, why hasn't there been a TV
Movie of the Week about this yet?)
"Zero Day" is typical and likeable
for much of its run time. The two leads here, Calvin
Robertson and Andre Keuck (playing characters named
Calvin and Andre), are cute, typical teenagers. Andre
is kind of an asshole but he seems pretty normal.
Calvin is simply adorable. The movie is worth seeing
just to look at his cute face for ninety minutes.
He's adorable. Sadly, neither one of them can really
act very well. Robertson treads through the film because
he doesn't really have to be assertive in any way.
He seems to be simply playing himself. Keuck doesn't
fare so well. He is obviously acting at all times
in the film.
The film uses the fastly-becoming-tired
device of having the film appear to be all videotape
shot by the characters. We know what these two are
up to when we walk into the theater, so not much exposition
is necessary. We have to sit through a boring birthday
party with Keuck's (real life) parents so that it
is established that these boys are normal. Their homicidal
tendencies do not stem from unhappy or abusive homelives.
So, we get to watch faux home video for around 75
minutes or so and most of it is exactly what we expect.
There are the "secret" scenes where we get to see
the boys explain their weapons and how they are stockpiling
them. Again, since the acting is so poor, we never
buy into the idea that these guys truly know what
the fuck they are talking about.
There is a couple of truly exceptional
moments and one scene that almost makes the film worth
seeing. The exceptional moments come when the boys
are alone and some mild homoerotic tension and horseplay
is exposed. Those who want to say that the two boys
who killed at Columbine, and I don't even know their
names, (one is something like Derrick Klebold or something),
did so because they were either gay or teased about
being gay when they were not, might find these moments
of interest. Myself, I found these moments to be disturbing
because they were so typically teenage. It's so hard
to figure out your sexuality when you are a teenager,
at least it is for some. And watching these two boys
be frolicsome as friends and express their love for
one and other as friends in playful homoerotic moments,
in a disturbing scene which I will discuss in the
next paragraph and, finally, in the dialogue before
they go on their killing spree, is nothing but saddening.
No, I'm not suggesting they are portrayed as gay.
Rather, they are portrayed as typical, normal, playful
and close as friends and this makes their extreme
actions at the inevitable end of the film even more
disquieting. How could two boys who are so normal
and happy together be planning such an event? Could
it truly stem from repressed sexual confusion? Could
it come from the sort of homophobic peer pressure
that inherently exists in groups of teenagers?
The crux of this ideal is the prom
night limo ride we see close to the end of the film
where Robertson goes on a date and Keuck waits to
meet him after. The next day will be "Zero Day." Robertson
is placed in a limo with five or six other teenagers
and, suddenly, his difference from other teenagers
is explosively obvious. Juxtaposed against these rambunctious,
loud, blatant, and goofy teens, high on their own
hormones, Robertson suddenly seems an amazing outcast.
There is a blatant and explosive "gay" theme to much
of the dialogue in this scene and it is mind-blowing.
This is the one thoughtful, perfect and crystalline
moment in the film. It also works within the context
of this theme because there is a boy in the group
here who handles the homophobic verbal horseplay of
his peers quite easily.
"Zero Day" might be acceptable if
it ended with Robertson and Keuck, armed to the teeth,
setting their video camera on the dashboard of their
car, videotaping them as they enter into the high
school and begin their unbelievable deed. I would
love it if the last ten minutes of the film were this
one static shot and we viewed the chaos from outside
the event through the video camera in the boys' car.
That would be ballsy and fascinating. We might accept
this ending and it might be amazingly troubling. But
producer/writer/director/filmmaker/editor Ben Coccio
doesn't trust himself as a filmmaker. He doesn't trust
his audience. His doesn't trust his actors to have
said all that they could possibly say. Either that
or he's a creep and an exploitative asshole. Either
way, he fucks this film up beyond acceptability.
Yes, Coccio has a ten minute scene
at the end of the film emulating the security camera
video from Columbine where we are forced to watch
Robertson and Keuck kill, torment, tease and abuse
their captive teenage peers. When they have killed
everyone in the room, they blow their own brains out.
It is exploitive, sickening, and, most importantly,
unnecessary. We know very well what is going to happen
in the school. We don't have to see it splayed out
across the screen to be troubled by all that has gone
on in the film.
This horrific ending ruins what
might have been an acceptable examination of the situation.
I could accept the idea that the film subtly presents,
that there is really just no way to understand fully
what might cause two teenage boys to carry out such
a vile and distressing idea. There are a plethora
of ideas at play here as to what might be the cause
of the boy's psychological problems and many of them
are presented subtly and carefully. There is a cumulative
effect of witnessing the boys carrying out playful
pranks, playing with guns, playing violent video games,
watching violent movies, listening to certain music,
and dealing with their peers that leaves us questioning
just what happened to these boys to fuck up their
psychological make-up so soundly. The final idea is
that we simply just can never know. But Coccio really
isn't interested in this idea. He's interested in
showing us sickening torture and killing scenes. He's
interested in using squibs. He's interested in being
cool.
The theme of this film, before it
turned to shit, reminded me of this documentary I
saw on PBS about Anorexic (I know it is probably misspelled)
girls. One girl told a story about having the condition
for several years and often being close to death and
often thought a hopeless case. At one point, someone
said something to her in passing one day that just
made her snap and stop what she was doing. She had
an epiphany because someone just said the right thing
at the right time and it turned off a switch in her
head and she was basically cured.
And that's what seems needed with
boys like this. (Interesting isn't it that it is mainly
girls that starve themselves and mainly boys that
bring guns to school). They possibly just need to
hear someone say the right thing at the right time.
They need an epiphany. And, as we know, no one can
intentionally create an epiphany, really. No one can
know the exact right thing to say at the exact right
time to change someone's mind and, in effect, change
their entire life. Trying to understand what goes
on in these boys' minds is like trying to understand
the mind of someone with Anorexia. Sure, there are
signs and, sure, there are treatments that may or
may not work. But the cure is a "moment." And sometimes
the "moment" simply does not happen in time.
All of these ideas and thoughts
in "Zero Day" are negated by its disgusting and wholly
unnecessary conclusion. I only had to hear some dumbass,
college-aged, male idiot behind me say "Cool" aloud
when the boys began killing their classmates on screen
to know that I was right. Coccio is totally wrong-
headed here. His film is a disgusting failure. (Hence
its Final Grade below).
Note:
The boys' real life families play
their characters' families in the film.
Keuck and Robertson won awards for
Best Actors at the Slamdunk Film Festival in Park
City in 2004. Coccio won Best Director and the feature
was chosen as Best Film. It has won awards at some
other fests as well.
The film was picked up by Avatar
Films who are currently running it in limited release.
Filmed in Albany, New York.
It is said that one screening group
(who select the films to be included in a film festival)
saw a rough cut without any credits and thought the
video was real and called the FBI. This one has marketing
ploy/urban myth written all over it.
Viewed in Austin in October 2003
at the Alamo Drafthouse as a part of the Cinemuerte
Film Festival. This is a festival created by a girl
named Kayla who used to live somewhere in the East
(I think) and has recently moved to Austin and is
trying to establish the festival here. She nearly
ruined the screening by telling too much about the
film before it played. I hate that shit.
