A fat man and his friends get a camera to make a movie at a VHS store…
The rags to riches, sounds-like-a-joke story is anything but, and started SmodCo empire, at the helm of which sits the self-deprecating “fat man” himself, visionary director Kevin Smith (director, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Red State), who’s done it again in his latest flick, Tusk.
Tusk is, at its surface level, very simple: a man turns another man into a walrus.
That’s right. A walrus.
Tusk revolves around a podcaster, Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), who goes all over the world to meet and interview people with strange and intriguing stories to tell, and after his first interview doesn’t pan out, Wallace finds himself in the rickety, gothic mansion of Howard Howe (Michael Parks). Howe, wanting to relive the time he spent with a walrus companion in the arctic after he narrowly escaped from a shipwreck in his youth, takes Wallace prisoner. What follows is, undoubtedly, absolutely insane, in the best way possible.
Walruses aside, Tusk is ultimately about people, both their relationships and the very question of what it means to be human. Stunning performances by Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, a delightful surprise by Genesis Rodriguez, and a cameo by a mysterious guest star known only as Guy Lapointe (who looks suspiciously like Johnny Depp wearing a fake nose), the wonderful cast brings out the color in the delightfully wacky script only Kevin Smith could’ve penned, accompanied by the best cinematography of his career.
Shocking at his wildest, and heart-wrenching at its most emotional, Tusk is, indeed, truly transformative. While Kevin Smith and co. are still road-showing the film at select locations, your best bet is to find Tusk on Blu-Ray/DVD or online. But wherever you find the delightfully whimsical (although down-right terrifying) Tusk, you’ll be glad you did.