Year released: 2010
THE CHARGE: Appropriation of Irish folklore to create a mash-up of Twilight, Beauty and the Beast, and a Lucky Charms advert.
THE EVIDENCE: I know what you're thinking and I'll get this out of the way right off the bat: Outcast does not feature Andre 3000 anywhere in the movie. So those of you hoping for a few rollicking choruses of "Hey Ya" will have to look elsewhere. I know, I was disappointed too.
This Outcast is a horror fantasy about an Irish mother and her teenage son on the run from someone trying to hunt them down. The hunter is working for the church... I think... and might be doing the job in exchange for some kind of occult power, but he also seems to have a personal reason for locating the mother/son duo...
Look, I apologize for being a bit vague, but here's the deal: I didn't watch the movie with subtitles, so I probably misunderstood half of what was going on. Even though everyone in the film speaks English, most of them speak with very thick Irish accents. So there's a lot of slurring of words, even in the rare instances when no one's drinking. Imagine a movie where everyone speaks like Brad Pitt's character in Snatch. Dial it back just a fraction of a hair and you're watching Outcast.
Anyway, what IS clear is that the mother is a witch and her son turns into some kind of beast whenever he gets overly excited. And since he's fifteen, this is a big problem because, as you know, most fifteen-year-old boys get excited by a stiff breeze blowing through their pants. So mom spends much of the movie trying to keep her boy in check, but the teen hottie in the apartment next door makes things a lot harder.
He loves his mom so much even Oedipus said "Damn, son."
And when I say "harder", I mean that in every way possible. This girl couldn't be more blatant about getting this guy into her pants if she was lying spread-eagled with runway lights leading to her landing strip. Here's a helpful dating hint, fellas: if a girl starts rubbing your crotch and then grabs your hand and stuffs it up her skirt, as happens in this movie, it usually means she's interested. (That being said, I should add that no means no. Stay in school and don't do drugs, kids.)
The fundamental problem with Outcast is that it was made for a small audience: one that's already well-versed in Irish folklore. Those of us outside that circle are confounded by, rather than appreciative of, the little details that director Colm McCarthy adds to the movie, like when the mother becomes agitated at discovering a crow's egg with a double yolk. I vaguely recall something from fairy tales during my youth about that being a bad omen, but I'm willing to bet that 90% of viewers outside the United Kingdom have no idea what it's supposed to signify and McCarthy makes no attempt to explain it.
"Make one leprechaun joke. Oi fookin' dare ya."
This is a dirty shame, because the folklore is really all that the movie has going for it. The basic story doesn't offer anything particularly original, but the mythology surrounding it looks pretty cool. For example, one scene has the witch and the hunter engaged in a psychic battle which they prepare for by making candles with a mixture of crushed bugs and their own blood, and then stripping completely naked. It's an interesting scene, no question, but it would have been great if the movie took a minute explain why it was all necessary. Throw me some breadcrumbs, man! I'm lost!
A lot of movies suffer from excessive exposition (Kevin Smith, I'm looking at YOU). But Outcast goes completely the other way, explaining nothing and leaving simple-minded viewers like me scratching our heads. The production values are fine, the camerawork is good and the acting ranges from wooden to excellent, with actress Kate Dickie in particular doing an outstanding job as the motherly witch. But without any rationale for the details fleshing out the bare-bones plot line, I was left with a story that ultimately rang hollow and, for that reason, I can't recommend Outcast to anyone who hasn't spent some quality time at Ye Olde Pub downing a few pints of Guinness.
THE VERDICT: Aye, an' Outcast be GUILTY av bein' de tam-wearin' 'ipster who shows aff 'is knowledge av Oirish folklore while lookin' down at 'is audience for not knowin' de lore as well as yer man does.
(Totally inappropriate Irish dialect translation courtesy of Whoohoo!)
