Source, The |
  • USA • 2002 • 100m •   • Directed by: Steve Taylor. • Starring: Mathew Scollon, Melissa Reneé Martin, Edward DeRuiter, Alice Frank, Johnny Venocur, Ronald Rezac, Roger Kristian Jones, Steven Glinn, Mark Wood, David Castro, Paul Taviani, Anna de Cardi, David Anders. • Music by: Mark David, William Tabanou.      Four outcast teenagers acquire mystical powers that allow them to become gods on campus, with deadly consequences.
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Review:
Edited, co-written & directed by Steve Taylor I was quite surprised at how much I didn't hate The Source, I think that's a better way of putting it than how I much I liked it as I don't really want to give the impression that The Source is any sort of masterpiece. The script by Taylor & Roger Kristian Jones moves along at a fair pace & to be brutally honest rips-off The Craft (1996), or should that be borrows some of it's ideas & themes? I unexpectedly quite liked the character's in The Source, they all have just enough personality to be likable which was essential if The Source is to work as a film & engage the viewer while a special mention goes to the the girls in The Source who are seriously hot which doesn't hurt. Generally it's pretty lightweight stuff, it doesn't even try to say meaningful things about serious issues like bullying, depression, conflicts with parents, theft & friendship that The Source brings up. Instead it skates around them a little which is fine as the acting & writing involved isn't really up to high drama, but we do get lots of special powers being put to good or bad use & where on Earth did the idea of a magical rock come from? The Source also went into a direction that I didn't expect & a nice climax.
Director Taylor turns The Source into a feature length music video. He tries everything, editing tricks, shots where the camera tilt's back & forth for no apparent reason, hand held jerky shots, slow motion, reduced frame rate, the image turned upside down & various other gimmicky techniques. One more thing I have to point out is that The Source is probably the brightest film I have watched, from the garish clothes to the outside scenes where the grass looks so bright it would glow in the dark & for some reason there are flashes of light shooting around the screen all the time almost as if someone was shining a torch on random objects in the scene, very strange & I'm not sure what it's all about. The Source lacks any real violence or gore, a cut arm & a few splashes of blood is about it while there isn't any nudity either.
On a technical level The Source isn't too bad considering that the budget must have been small to say the least. It was obviously shot on video rather than film which might explain why it looks so bright, unfortunately when something is shot on video it has that cheap 'n' nasty look & feel to it. The music sounds like it has come straight from a techno rave CD while generally speaking it's quite well made. Apart, that is, from one or two poor CGI special effects particularly at the end. The acting is decent enough & I think I'm in love with Melissa Renee Martin...
I wasn't expecting to but I actually rather liked The Source, it's nothing to heavy, it's good fun & provides 100 odd minutes worth of entertainment. Don't get me wrong it isn't brilliant but I personally think it's well worth a watch.
Review by Paul Andrews from the Internet Movie Database.
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