17/12/2022
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗢𝗙 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡
𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫”
𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑇𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑠
I think it’s time I warn everyone that Joe Badon’s films are dangerous. They just aren’t very safe to watch, since by the very act of watching, you become complicit in the content of these films, and it happens almost without you realizing how quickly you’ve become complicit. By then it’s too late. Too late for you. Too late for Grandma. Too late for the whole universe.
Joe Badon is the director of the feature films The God Inside My Ear (2017) and Sister Tempest (2020). Those films were very insubordinate—possibly delinquent. Sure, they SEEMED to be incredibly unique and beautiful and awesome—but while you were marveling at how good they are, they knotted your shoelaces together and put gum in your hair. These are the kinds of films that can’t be trusted to behave themselves at casual get-togethers.
Now he’s made this new miniseries called The Wheel of Heaven and, based on the first episode, “The Reflection in the Mirror,” Joe Badon isn’t going to be happy until he gets us all arrested.
Oh yeah, at first it seems like we’re just watching this odd group of people make an indie film, and we get some cool behind-the-scenes glimpses, but then we’re being introduced to this artist named Margaret. She seems pretty quirky and cute as she tells you about her art and the characters she creates, like Captain Corn, who might be on the verge of discovering the center of the universe, but the Captain notices that there’s something wrong with Grandma, which might derail the entire film—the director frequently has to step into the scene and keep things on track (that’s his job, after all), but the track keeps skipping. Skipping into another world with another problem. Soon we start wondering what we’ve gotten ourselves into, but now we’re in this, too. We’re in this vortex of shifting perspectives that we’re no longer in control of and there’s no turning back. We can’t explain our way out of this, so we just have to move forward with the film production and hope that the Santa Twin is friendly and that a mechanic named Marge can get us safely to the end of the book. Or the film. Or the universe.
Grandma, please help us. This film is dangerous, and now we’re accomplices.
I have no idea where this miniseries is about to go next, but I’m climbing on board and I call shotgun. I could use time to tell you how I honestly feel about Joe Badon’s films, but it would just come across as worshipful hyperbole and probably make Joe uncomfortable. He probably deserves it (both the praise and the discomfort), but I’ll leave it be. His films are weird, colorful, whimsical, hilarious, and creepy. They can be dense and jarring, but in strangely inviting and accessible ways. They have a language all their own, and there’s nothing quite like them. This episode is f**king weird and I f**king love it.
We also need to take a moment to praise (nay, BLAME) the gang of incredibly talented hooligans that Joe has assembled here. I’m talking about co-writer Jason Kruppa, cinematographer Daniel Waghorne, editor Joseph Jude Estrade, and the entire team. And then there’s Kali Russell, the star sitting on top of this powder keg, shooting sparks everywhere with gleeful abandon. I thought she was great in SISTER TEMPEST, but she takes it to whole new levels with this one. Just…wow.
For people who prefer their cinema more on the Hollywood blockbuster side of the menu, there might not be much for you to snack on here, but for lovers of audacious cinema, this is candy, protein, carbs, and trigonometry for the soul. It’s rich, absurdist surrealism, yet it all makes perfect sense within the world it creates for us and immerses us in. It’s welcoming in its weirdness, and it’s always nice to feel welcome.
But this thing is definitely dangerous and is going to get us all into trouble. Possibly grounded.
Dammit, Joe.
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[Trailer in comments]
