PERSONAL TRANSCENDENCE // A FILM REVIEW OF "STANLEYVILLE"

BY MATEO MORENO

STANLEYVILLE is a bizarre movie, and it wears that like a badge of honor. In fact, that's the main thing that drew me to it initially. Think of it starting as a sort of oddball version of Squid Games but forgetting to include any real payoff for the viewer. Julian Richings announces himself as a man named Homunculus and he straight away approaches a lonely woman named Maria (Susanne West) in the middle of a shopping center. They are strangers, but Homunculus seems to have chosen Maria for a contest, or an experience of sorts. One that will let her experience "authentic personal transcendence." There's no real reason for her to take this man at his word, but she's tired of her home life and is excited to hear that she has been chosen among thousands of millions. She happily accepts his offer, without knowing anything truly about it.

Maria then finds herself in an office building of some sort, along with four other "contestants:" Felicie (Cara Ricketts), Manny (Adam Brown), Andrew (Christian Serritiello) and Bofill (George Tchortov). They are a mix of lost toys, of sorts. One is caught up in a protein powder pyramid scheme, one is in the world of finance, one is a delusional actor and one (Felicie) simply wants the main prize: the orange SUV. Felicie may be the one that's not as bizarre as the rest, but she also has intense tunnel vision. No one will get in her way of winning this contest and that makes her the most unpredictable. Homunculus begins a series of tests that they must all compete in, all of them quite ridiculous. As they progress, some contestants form alliances, while others grow suspicious of the others. 

The title of the film comes from a real person: Henry Morton Stanley, a controversial Welsh/American explorer who's portrait hangs in the room, looming over them. But what is the true connection of the film to the explorer himself? Well... that's a mystery, at least to me. The film doesn't try to connect any dots, merely tends to throw out strange and unusual circumstances and experiments. Who Homunculus is or how the contest picked anyone in the first place remains a mystery that's never revealed, or even hinted at. It does seem that Stanleyville is making a comment on the easily fracturing of society and how monstrous humans can become over a prize, any prize, even if it's just a car. Each actor brings a unique strangeness to the film and it does start out quite funny and strange and intriguing. But by the time you figure out that almost nothing is going to have an answer, frustration begins to overtake any enjoyment and the third act peters out with a less than stunning finale. Stanleyville is an interesting experiment, indeed. But like many experiments before it, nothing quite comes of it.

GRADE: B-

WRITTEN BY Rob Benvie, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos DIRECTED BY Maxwell McCabe-Lokos STARRING Susanne Wuest, Cara Ricketts, Christian Serritiello, George Tchortov, Adam Brown, Julian Richings