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Sep 18, 2015 Web Exclusive By John Everhart

The Color Wheel, released theatrically in 2012 after considerable indie festival buzz, is a highly idiosyncratic, uncompromising artistic ethos without a whiff of commercial potential. Hence it for all intents and purposes bombed box office wise, unsurprising considering it was shot on grainy 16mm, in black and white, with pitch-black gallows humor leavening discomfiting subject matters, including incest, anathema to even indie film audiences, as Todd Solondz can attest to.

The film’s two protagonists, brother and sister Colin and JR (played by the director Alex Ross Perry and co-writer Carlen Altman, respectively), go on a road trip ostensibly to gather the latter’s belongings from an ex-lover’s home, her professor, portrayed by Robert Byington, who provides an excellent caricature of a smarmy pseudo-intellect. What they end up on instead is a circuitous journey to the depths of their inner psyches, replete with a party sequence akin to 16 Candles on a mescaline trip.

The film’s denouement is spectacular, like a fever dream outtake from Solondz’s Happiness, delivered with a self-aware verisimilitude redolent of the early works of John Cassavetes. Altman in particular imbues her character with a disarming level of vulnerability. Her glib gags and gallows humor can’t mask the deep longing for connection lurking just beneath the garishly veiled surface. It’s a shame we’ve heard little from her since, as this role seemed to portend great things from the actress. And Perry of course has gone on to bigger things, most notably his 2014 directorial breakout, Listen Up Philip.

The Color Wheel isn’t an easy film to like, or watch even, but it sears its brazen imagery onto your subconscious, like the spots you see after staring into a bright light for too long. It may be shot in stark black and white, but its lingering impressions burn as intensely and vividly as a fireworks display.

The Factory 25 special DVD edition provides, along with excellent packaging, the film Impolex, Perry’s 2009 debut, a book featuring numerous still photographs from The Color Wheel, and a discussion between writers Oliver Pere and Mark Olsen, which provide elucidation as to the film’s provenance and cultural significance. And a few 35mm film frames from its actual print are included, further reinforcing why Factory 25 deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Criterion in any discussion of the finest indie film labels. (www.factorytwentyfive.com/the-color-wheel)

Author rating: 9/10