Dave Made A Maze

[The Giggling Bean]

Has anyone else seen this? Arrow put it out this year and the concept of the film really grabbed me. I took a chance on it an picked it up for a tenner and absolutely loved it. Despite my natural preference being horror (and it did include horror elements) it's joined films like Three Businessmen and King of Comedy as part of my favourite non horror films.

In a nutshell, for anyone who hasn't seen it, Dave is an artistic type who never finishes what he starts. One day his girlfriend comes home to find a cardboard fort in the middle of the living room, just big enough for one person to fit in. It turns out it's bigger on the inside and Dave is lost inside. His girlfriend and various friends and acquaintances follow him in to rescue him but it's filled with booby traps and a Minotaur.

I loved the look of the cardboard world and the fact that any blood shed was crepe paper. The cardboard girl asking for high fives at the end was pure nightmare fuel.

So, has anyone else seen it and did you like it?

[olliebean]

Saw it too long ago to comment in any detail, but yes, it's good fun, and the design style has a sort of Michel-Gondry-esque feel to it which I really enjoyed.

[peanutbutter]

What I really liked about this film is that it seemed to have close to no shame about the fact that it was just a junkyard of ideas at points. Most times when Gondry does a film it falls apart when he tries to add drama or emotional resonance.

It very very slightly overstays it's welcome and has absolutely no depth whatsoever, but it was fun and that's all it seemed like it wanted to be so yeah... fun stuff.

[Shaky]

So, has anyone else seen it and did you like it?

Not yet, but your thread reminded me of it and I've just nabbed a torrent. Thanks!

[BlodwynPig]

Clearly ripped off elements of my Minotaur film series and House of Leaves.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I started a thread a few years ago about it - https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=62173.0 - but as I was the only one who watched it, here's the post in full:

Or a labyrinth, to be precise, and an impossible one at that as what initially looks like a small cardboard construct that fits within a New York living room turns out to be ridiculously enormous. Said labyrinth comes complete with booby traps, sentient origami and when someone dies a huge amount of streamers and red yarn sprays all over the place, and it also includes the usage of a Minotaur that'll presumably enrage Bloodwyn Pig. Meanwhile James Urbaniak is a friend whose brought along a camera crew so that he can make a documentary about proceedings, just to make things even more meta than they already were.

So yeah, it's one of those indie movies which plays around with reality in a surreal if bemusing way. To be honest it only mostly works, there are the odd scenes which are a little too clunky or on the nose, and at times it's meta in a far too knowing a way. Yet at the same time it often manages to be ridiculous fun, it's a movie I can completely understand someone hating this to pieces, but I was in a forgiving mood (helped by it's short run time and fairly swift pace) and when it works it can't be denied that it's visually intriguing at the very least.

Other, better reviews:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/dave-made-a-maze-is-a-wacky-fairy-tale-about-the-folly-1797990367

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/dave-made-a-maze-960293

[Goldentony]

I watched this about two years ago too and loved it. Diversion by The Equals has to be up there with Be My Baby and San Antone from Rolling Thunder on as greatest opening songs in a film.

[chveik]

Clearly ripped off elements of my Minotaur film series and House of Leaves.

is House of Leaves any good? I'm always a bit skeptical of those acclaimed postmodernist books.