Recidivism.

Stay. (Bobcat Goldthwait, USA): 69

Simply astonishing. I am in awe. So much so, in fact, that I'm now sorely tempted to investigate Shakes the Clown, lest that, too, turn out to be a misunderstood quasi-masterpiece. Any filmmaker eager to offend middlebrow sensibilities could have made a movie about the repercussions that ensue when a nice young woman (Melinda Page Hamilton, in a miraculously naturalistic performance) confesses to having once blown her dog. But it takes a fantastically demented mind and crazy fucking courage (plus arguably an artistic death wish) to conceive of such a ludicrous, revolting scenario and then pitch it as Goldthwait does here -- not (primarily) as sick black comedy, but as a serious, often downright earnest treatise on the potential pitfalls of exposing every crevice of your past and soul to those you love. Yes, there are gags, but a disquieting sweetness and sincerity lurk beneath the admittedly juvenile surface. If only Bobcat-the-director had the chops to really pull it off. Wobbly tone and ass-ugly videography notwithstanding, though, I don't expect to see a more incisive film about long-term romantic relationships this year. Seriously. --Mike D'Angelo