Goliath (David Zellner, 2008): USA

Directed by David Zellner and brother Nathan, “Goliath” has been a much awaited independent film, packing out theaters at the Sundance and Santa Barbara Film Festival this year. What is interesting about this film is that the Zellner brothers are known for their short films yet with “Goliath” being their first attempt at a full-length feature film, I was happily surprised at the outcome.

I saw this film about half way through the film festival. Many of the films chosen this year were of a very deep and intense nature, and having “Goliath” in the mix was a very nice change in subject matter and storyline. Although it is based on a rather sad story, the quirkiness of the characters (think Napoleon Dynamite or 40 Year Old Virgin) adds a lot of potential for a good laugh. The audience seemed to enjoy the film very much.

Our main character, played by David Zellner is a depressed sort of guy and he has every right to be. His wife leaves him, he gets demoted at work, and on top of that, his beloved cat Goliath goes missing – all within the first 30 minutes of the film. I’d be lying if I said that he deals with every situation in a graceful manner too. He, as anyone else goes into a sort of depression where the life around him seems hazy. His ex-wife hates him, which leads to very childish fights every time they are together and his co-workers make fun of him on a daily basis. Eventually the one thing keeping him going is the hunt for his cat.

Later on in the film, when he is posting signs informing the neighborhood of his missing cat, he gets into a conversation with a woman who tells him there is a molester in the neighborhood. He takes what she says to heart so much that he looks the guy up on the internet, goes to his house, and starts blaming him for everything that’s going wrong in his own life. Situations such as this sets a platform for many odd yet comedic events throughout the rest of the film.

After watching the movie, I was surprised at how well the Zellner brothers were able to move the audience with such a simple film. There wasn’t particularly anything spectacular about the film. The editing, cinematography, and acting weren’t anything like a blockbuster smash, yet I really enjoyed the simplicity of it all.

Overall I enjoyed the film and will probably watch it again sometime if it is distributed. If you enjoyed movies like Napoleon Dynamite and 40-Year-Old Virgin, I think you might enjoy this film.