Friday, April 4

2025 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Thursday, April 3rd

 

 Coda’s ongoing coverage of the 2025 Phoenix Film Festival & International Horror Sci-Fi Film Festival. I'll be using these posts to recap the films I've experienced as part of these festivals.

 

 

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711


JIMMY AND STIGGS – Directed by Joe Begos

 

Filmmaker Jimmy’s (Joe Begos) downward spiral into booze, dope and all sorts of ill shit is unceremoniously interrupted by an alien abduction in his L.A. apartment. Fearing they’ll return, he enlists the help of his estranged and recently sober friend, Stiggs (Matt Mercer) to prepare for war against his nightly invaders.

I had this sort of idea a few years ago, primarily inspired by the films of Joel Potrykus (APE, BUZZARD, RELAXER), that there exists a small niche subset of films that I have began referring to as “Dirtbag Cinema”. Essentially, lowlife characters attempting to overcome obstacles and triumphing over challenges, while ultimately remaining largely unchanged. I’ve considered many Begos’ films in this category as well. And I would hope that the contextual clues provided by everything else I’ve ever written make it clear that this phrase was always meant as a term of endearment. JIMMY AND STIGGS certainly fits this description. It kind of defines it, even.

The film is book-ended by these very long and fun POV sequences. First, the pre-title scene that sets the stage of Jimmy’s apartment, his substance abuse and general attitude projected to those on the other end of his phone introduce us to his character. The final scene, by switching back to POV serves to nicely juxtapose the two contrasting visuals, accenting just how much has gone wrong in this small space over the course of just one day. This was a neat trick, and I think it also shows how much creativity, care and craftsmanship went into the film overall. While some specific aspects come off as very camp and low budget, there are plenty of times this film pulls off effects and techniques that prove an experienced hand. The artistry in films like this is too often overlooked. I hope to highlight this in my writing as much as possible.

The overall look of the film, established by Brian Sowell & Mike Testin’s cinematography and the lighting of the set was hyper kinetic and gave no room for the audience to take a breath. The set looked as if it was lit entirely by a combination of neon beer signs and black light posters (although I’m sure there was much more to it than that). And the shots were primarily long single take handheld, floating around the action quickly, but not to the point of confusion or disorientation. Everything that happens in this film, happens on camera, in your face and in clear view.

The pace is powerful here as well. It comes and goes with the exact same intensity. And at only 80 minutes, the whole thing is over before you really know what hits you. I’m usually one to commend a film for its softer touches, for the wisdom and beauty of moderation, prudence and sobriety. You don’t get any of that stuff here and we’re all better for it. Sometimes it’s nice to have a film slap you in the face with reckless abandonment and absolutely zero restraint, to remind us that in fact sometimes, more is more. In the end, this may be the gooiest movie I’ve seen since Peter Jackson’s DEAD ALIVE.

As I bring this back to my previous ramblings, I did have to wonder a few things: Has there ever been a film that could be categorized as “Lovecraftian Dirtbag Cinema”? And more importantly, did they get their security deposit back?

 

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