11.08: TERRI (NZFF)

Terri is one of those films from the Festival that I am really unsure about what to say as it made very little impact on me, for good or ill. Whether it was because I was becoming tired of “indie” films or films with no resolution (oh gods, I was almost gasping for a three-act Hollywood explosion. Isn’t that kinda terrible?) or if it was merely because my expectations for Terri did not match up with what was on screen… but it all just washed over me.

Terri is our loner, outsider hero. He’s a big kid and seems to give little thought to helping his popularity situation at high school – he wears pyjamas to school and appears to have zero friends. He lives with his mentally deteriorating uncle and is pulled up by the vice-principal (John C. Reilly) for weekly "chats". The VP is almost as much of an outsider as Terri, though all grown up and trying to reach out to these kids now. Terri also has a crush on the pretty, blonde girl in his Home Economics class. She’s one of the “beautiful people” and seemingly as far away from Terri as it is possible to get. However, she’s ostracised by her peers and falls in with Terri (and his new misfit friend) after she’s caught being fingered by her douchebag boyfriend in class. Of course, the boyfriend receives no punishment for it, even though she was against the idea and was facing expulsion. Terri saves her from expulsion, and she and the big lug get close.

For all of that, the film just elicited very little reaction from me. I felt as if I was being put at a remove from the characters and action. And like I’ve said, it may not be the films’ fault. By this stage of the Film Festival I was reaching saturation point and would only be brought back by a collection of really rather incredible films. Luckily, I had the next few days…