Red Flag (2012) or, Alex on Tour

♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best Independent Movie of the Year

+ Worst Distribution of the Year

 

Writer-co-producer-director-star Alex Karpovksy (in the middle) looks at us with a hopeless glare on the poster for his Red Flag

 

Alex and Rachel have broken up after several years together. So now Alex is left to himself as he is heading out on his tour with his documentary Woodpecker. - Until an old friend (Onus Turkel (Summer of Blood (2014))) responds to his open invitation and comes to join him.

Red Flag is a funny indie-dramedy road movie about a couple of slobs on tour together. The humor is like a mix of Seinfeld, Woody Allen and Klown: Wry, dry and cynical. Several lines and situations in the film are really funny. - SPOILER Particularly the specifics concerning Alex's documentary and his friend's children's book.

Red Flag features some fairly off-putting characters, - but they are well-played and the film is small but hilarious. It is written, co-produced and directed by Alex Karpovsky (Rubberneck (2012)), who stars as Alex, the protagonist who is based on himself.

 

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Karpovsky is interviewed about the film at the LA Film Festival premiere here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 2k $ (North America)

= Unknown (but must be considered a flop)

[Red Flag premiered June 15 (Los Angeles Film Festival) and runs 85 minutes. There are several fascinating details about its production: First of all the Woodpecker tour is not fictional, but actual: Red Flag came about as a project to complete while Karpovsky agreed to go on a tour with his second film, the actual documentary Woodpecker. Reportedly with a crew of just one cameraman, the film came about with the three actors and everyone else being random people involved on location, with a 30-page outline, in 12 days. Unfortunately the film's release has been even smaller than its production: Only released in 1 theater in North America, where it grossed 2k $ in the few days it was screened. Its only other market was a film festival in Poland, a fact which is hard not to consider perfectly in line with the general, self-deprecating humor of the film. Red Flag is fresh at 78 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Red Flag?