Film Forum

U.S., 2007
Written and Directed by Ronald Bronstein
Starring Dore Mann, Paul Grimstad, Mary Bronstein
Cinematography by Sean Price Williams
Approx. 106 min. 35mm. 

A nightmare transmission from the grungiest depths of the New York indie underground, the visceral, darkly funny, and totally sui generis debut feature from Ronald Bronstein is a dread-inducing vision of misfit alienation at its unhinged extreme. In a maniacal performance of almost frightening commitment, Dore Mann plays Keith, a disturbingly maladjusted social outcast and self-described “troll” whose neuroses plunge him into an unstoppable spiral of self-obliteration as his crummy coupon-selling job, pitiful living situation (featuring the roommate from hipster Brooklyn hell), and last remaining human relationships disintegrate around him. As captured in the grimy expressionist grain of Sean Price Williams’s claustrophobic camera work, FROWNLAND is DIY cinema at its most fearless, uncompromising, and unforgettable.

35mm print courtesy Ronald Bronstein.

Reviews

“Like a shriek for help. It centers on an extraordinary performance that plays like an unceasing panic attack. To call it uncompromising is to wish for a better word... It is a rebirth of the need for expression that inspired the American independent movement in the first place, 50 years ago.”
– Roger Ebert

“Personal cinema at its most uncompromising and fierce.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“A horror film nearly as creepy as ERASERHEAD and more unsparing.”
– Amy Taubin, Film Comment

“The buzz will shake some auds to giddy wonder and excitement while making others toss it into the sink, but all will agree it stays with you.”
– Variety