Ham on Rye

There's so very much I could say about this film. This is one of those movies where it pains me to know that it's existed for the last few years and yet I only discovered it within the past week. I discovered this film by accident after randomly stumbling across a film reviewer on tiktok discussing this and Tyler's more recent movie "Happer's Comet." First, i think it's fair to say that viewers looking for a cohesive straight forward story will not find one here. I mean, it's there, to an extent. This movie presents it's story through a montage of it's nervous, excited, anxious, and awkward characters. Ham on Rye is almost more of a mood than a story. It's the way that it's presented to us that reveals a little more of the fascinating town and it's bizarre past-time with each passing frame and shot that makes it so interesting. Everything feels familiar but slightly...off. It's kind of a similar feel to the uncanny valley effect. You recognize what you're seeing, and the story being told, but some part of your brain just isn't 100% sure that you're processing what you're seeing correctly. It's like a dream. I'm not going to divulge too much of the actual plot points because to do so would be to spoil the curious almost supernatural phenomenon that is at the core of it. I've seen people break down the movie into two halves. The first half being an almost "Dazed and Confused" or "the Breakfast Club" styled story. The one we've all seen. It's a bunch of awkward kids at an awkward part of their life and school is coming to an end. BUT then we get thrown into the second half. The "Lynchian" half. It's like day and night. The sun and the moon. The excitement and nervousness from the first half are gone and replaced with something much darker. "The decay of the human spirit" as it is referred to in Ham On Rye's official synopsis. There is a very real very dark aching that sleeps within the second half of the movie. It plays to the film's dreamlike nature as well as the first half does but in a different way. The darkness and emptiness of the town in the film's later moments feel claustrophobic. Like it's somewhere you wouldn't want to be stuck forever. And considering the character's final fates by the end of the film that's probably intentional. Overall Ham on Rye is phenomenal. It's a brilliant debut from a filmmaker with a very unique voice and I hope to see more from him. On a final note Carson Lund's cinematography in this film is nothing short of jaw dropping.

I enjoyed the first 20 minutes of this film - sort of - there was an atmosphere. I was hoping for a certain growth of character development and some semblance of a story. There was NONE.

A very nice film, I enjoyed the pace and tone of this movie and it's just what I expected from first viewing! I don't know why it's got all the low scores but it made me think about how weird growing up is... and the absurdity of leaving your hometown or being left there while everyone else moved on. I loved the jaggered lynch tone and just the feel of the movie, would watch again.

Was this supposed to become a cult classic? All ten reviews -- including this one -- attest that it didn't. And won't. The first rule of writing is, if you're going to do boring, don't do it boringly. I tend to think I can get something out of just about any film: If it isn't enjoyable, one way or another, well at least I can enjoy mocking it, This isn't even mock-worthy.

While dotted with isolated moments of remarkable beauty and emotional acuity, the film mostly plays like an attempt at another "Myth of the American Sleepover" (David Robert Mitchell's wonderful 2010 debut), albeit one heavily influenced by the work of David Lynch. It's a difficult film to "get into," but I was ultimately moved by its dreamy, elliptical opacity. I'm just not sure whether it really adds up to a coherent work.

A complete waste of time. Disjointed, loaded with obscure symbolism, uninteresting plot, unlikable characters. We'd hoped for more, but we received a lot less.

Ham on Rye