Directed by: Randy Moore.
Written by: Randy Moore.
Starring: Roy Abramsohn (Jim), Elena Schuber (Emily), Katelynn Rodriguez (Sara), Jack Dalton (Elliot), Danielle Safady (Sophie), Annet Mahendru (Isabelle), Lee Armstrong (Man on Scooter), Alison Lees-Taylor (Other Woman), Stass Klassen (Scientist).
I’ve
never been to Disneyland or Disneyworld, but I understand the urge to look for
the dark side of the so-called Happiest Place on Earth. Disney works very hard
to keep a squeaky clean image – the commercials for their theme parks promise
nothing but non-stop family fun – which is what they want you to associate
everything Disney with. They want to be controversy free – and have no problem
suing any and everyone who does something they don’t like. The most remarkable
thing about Randy Moore’s Escape from Tomorrow then is that it exists at all –
and you don’t have to watch some illegal, bootleg copy to get to see the movie
itself. Moore and his cast snuck cameras into both Disneyland and Disneyworld
over the course of several months, and filmed their movie right in the middle
of the park. The movie is specifically about the darkness lurking behind the
façade of the happiest place on earth – with sexual undercurrents, insanity,
violence and crazed scientists under Epcot center. Moore has tapped into that
darkness in Disney that the company works very hard to convince you aren’t
there at all. When the film premiered at Sundance, everyone assumed it would
never be released – although according to legal experts, Disney didn’t have
much of a case, people assumed they would tie the movie in litigation so long
that by the time they lost, no one would care anymore. Surprisingly though,
Disney did the right thing – and simply ignored the movie. This is a tiny
movie, that won’t be viewed by all that many people. Why look like a corporate
bully when few will even see the film in the first place?
The
film opens with Jim (Roy Abramsohn) getting a phone call telling him he is
being let go from his job. This couldn’t come at a worst time, since he’s about
to go spend the final day of his family vacation at Disneyland. Once he gets to
the park, it doesn’t take him long to start to lose it – fueled by alcohol, he
starts having bizarre fantasies – revolving around two, young French girls, who
he follows behind like a creepy stalker, with his young son in tow. On the It’s
a Small World ride, the faces of the children become distorted and surreal. He
has ugly encounters with other park guests. His wife won’t stop bitching at him
– his son won’t stop whining about Buzz Lightyear, and he will eventually end
up the subject of bizarre experiments at Epcot center.
It
must be said that the idea behind Escape from Tomorrow is better than the
execution. After establishing Disneyland as a dark place, full of secrets and a
corporate conspiracy or two, and establishing Jim as a man coming apart at the
seams, the movie doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s content to come up with
bizarre imagery, distorting the vision of Disney as the happiest place on
earth, and have Abramsohn rage at anything and everything around him. It would
have helped a little if any of the other characters were developed in the
slightest – Jim’s wife is portrayed pretty much as a harpy – and his son as snot
nosed whiner. By comparison, his daughter comes across the best – a sweet faced
little girl – until the inevitable scene where she wants something her parents
don’t want to buy her, and she devolves into a temper tantrum.
Yet,
it also must be said that while the movie is too long – it could have made a
brilliant 30 minute short for instance – it is also effective much of the time.
I may have never been to Disneyland, but as the father of a two-year old, I do
know just how painful it can be to keep a fake smile plastered on your face as
you’re stuck watching something insultingly simplistic, or suffering through
live shows aimed at children (the Thomas the Tank Engine live show was the
longest 30 minutes of my life – I can only imagine how much alcohol the poor
girl who had to sing the thing every day must have to drink). Escape from
Tomorrow taps into that futile, impotent rage that all parents go through at
one point or another. Most of the time, I suffer gladly because my daughter
loves the Bubble Guppies so much – but once in a while…
It also taps into our fascination with Disney, and its dark side. Do a quick search on the internet, and you’ll find all sorts of evil conspiracies involving Uncle Walt, Disneyland and everything else associated with Disney. This is a massive corporation, built to make money, which also tries to present itself as totally family friendly and innocent. Of course, they’re bringing it on themselves in some ways.
You
have to give Randy Moore credit. I don’t necessarily think Escape from Tomorrow
is a very good movie – it’s trying hard to be David Lynch Goes to Disneyland,
and cannot pull it off. Isolated moments work far better than the movie as a
whole. But he’s made something interesting here – a film that everyone is
talking about, even if few people will actually end up watching it. In that way
it’s brilliant – how many first time directors, working with no budget and no stars
can say they’ve done that? Hopefully Moore, who has made a mess of a film this
time out, can turn this into an interesting career. The ideas are there.
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