We are incredibly excited to be hosting the Chicago premiere of the hit on the film festival circuit, I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS. Too unique, too weird, too unconventionally hilarious and simply too amazing to ever be produced with anything other than the microbudget it was made on, I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS is exactly the sort of film that illustrates why underground outsider cinema remains essential in 2014. Show us a work with more oddball personality this year, we challenge you. Shot on a budget of just $12,000 on 24P mini DV beginning in 2007 and emerging from post-production only this year, it’s driven by a very strange style of straight-faced absurdist humour, sort of reminiscent of TIM & ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB!, if any comparison has to be drawn. However, this is something that exists entirely on an island of its own, the toothpicks-and-bubblegum, no-budget aesthetics further enhancing the film’s gonzo charm. In fact, they’re a key part of its comedic tapestry.
Synopsis:
International Europop star Bené is holed up at a secret Los Angeles location, in hiding after a fatwa has been taken out on him via the dreaded FatwaList.com website. All he knows is that the fatwa was taken out by a figure with the user name “iluvtennis127”, whose profile pic is a shot of his hand with a face drawn on it. Bené is haunted by the memory of his girlfriend Baguette who was recently killed by a suicide bomber bomber (“I’ll kill that suicide bomber”). Unfortunately, Baguette was not a very interesting person, and she did all the things normal people would do, so every mundane item and activity reminds him of her. With him in the safe house is frustrated manager/security Beefy (Will Crest), who does his best to keep the awkward pop star safe — and occupied. Bené spends his time in all kinds of strange ways, making uproarious contemplations, getting into gut-bustingly bizarre circular arguments, writing songs, dealing with nosy neighbors, whipping up disguises in order to go outside and — oh yeah — fighting off the odd militarily trained super-soldier.
Writer/producer/director/composer/editor/sound designer/star Bennett Jones — who also sings a number of impossibly great and preposterous songs — is a gobsmackingly original voice. He shaped his “terribly serious and ridiculous” Bené character over years of standup comedy performances and has emerged with a genuinely special creation. All kinds of weird and wonderful beats pop up from out of nowhere, hysterically funny lines are deadpanned into instant immortality (the banter between Jones and Crest is absolute comic gold), rugged animation, lo-fi psychedelia, crazy catchy electropop, nutzoid backstories and the odd burst of eccentric action and destruction collide to make this a film truly unlike anything else on the planet. (thanks to Mitch Davis of Fantasia International Film Festival for the write up!)
I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS
Digital Projection, 84mins
Location: Chicago Filmmakers
5243 N Clark St. 60640
Date: Saturday, December 13th
Time: 8:00pm
Ticket price: $8.00 in advance and can be purchased by clicking onto this sentence.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
