Sword of Trust

source: Sword of Trust

source: Sword of Trust

Those familiar with Marc Maron's WTF Podcast will recognize his "guitar noodling" as the incidental music throughout the film similar in style to that featured at the beginning and end of each podcast episode. The music over the credits is an original song written and performed by Maron and bass prodigy Tal Winkenfeld a twenty-something Australian who regularly plays with Jeff Beck and other A list musicians.

From the outset, I was a little nervous about how I would like this film. Marc Maron can be abrasive but I do sometimes like his comedy. I am the sort of person that used to skip his rants to get to the interview on his now famous podcast "WTF." Even that, though, I tired of so I wondered if I would be similarly motivated to eventually check out of this film. I was in for a bit of a treat though. This film, while tapping into Marc's talents, is definitely not simply his voice thrown on the big screen. There are a lot of really great laughs, awkward moments, incredulous circumstances, and zany antics from everyone involved in this film. The setup for the film is that a couple, Mary (Michaela Watkins, "The House") and Cynthia (Jillian Bell, "Inherent Vice"), are given a sword from the Civil War by their dead Grandfather. In a dementia scrambled note, He details a winding and contradictory narrative that ends in this thought; The sword proves the South won the war. They end up deciding to try to sell it for an astronomical sum of money and introduce Mel (Marc Maron, "Almost Famous") and Nathaniel (Jon Bass, "Loving") into their little scheme since they know where they can find people who will believe the sword's sordid history and pay dearly for it and the light it sheds on an alternate history. I won't get any further into the plot but the setup should be enough to see that there is a lot of opportunity for humor in this film especially with a cast that is as funny as this one. What I wasn't expecting was the layers of conversation and depth that the film was going to bring to bear on such an, on the surface at least, ridiculous premise. For example, the women get this sword and are disgusted by the fact that their grandfather thought the South won the war, and probably along with it, a lot of other out there stuff. So they don't want it. But they do want the money it could fetch them so they head to the pawn shop where they proceed to try to convince the owner that the sword really is the sword that should have ended the war because that would be worth more money. The film constantly turns truth on its head like this, making fun of people who basically say and believe whatever is convenient to their ends or giving us heartfelt scenes where people are facing things from their past and how we tell ourselves stories then rewrite them in our brains to make us feel better about them not caring so much about their veracity.

It's not the A-Funny comedy but I don't know why it makes me smile from my deep down. 2 pair of strangers target to sell a sword for good money and the adventure begins. It just a very casual and straight story telling but it does have its charms. What's wrong with this movie?

Mel (Marc Maron) owns a pawn shop in Alabama. Nathniel (Jon Bass) is his slacker assistant. Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and Mary (Michaela Watkins) are a lesbian couple who has arrived in town expecting an inheritance from Cynthia's late grandfather. They are surprised when it's revealed to be a Civil War sword that is alleged to prove that the South actually won the war. The actors interest me right away. I'm a fan of all of them. This seems to be an SNL skit idea being turned into a movie. There is this idea that conspiracy theories are hilarious because they're stupid. For me if false, they're dangerous. If true, they're being oppressed and dangerous in a different way. That's not to say that a spoof on conspiracy theories couldn't be funny and this one has a few laughs. The bigger issue may be that this should be a story about Cynthia and Mary. Instead, this is mostly about Mel. There are more opportunities for screwball comedy with the girls. They're the ones running around. They could lose the sword. They could run into odd characters as they do research with self-described experts. Quite frankly, Mel is strictly an unnecessary character and a static character. I'd rather have an action thriller caper with the two ladies and Mel could join them in their adventures. Also, it's ridiculous that these people would simply go where ever with whoever. It's supposed to be funny but it's unreasonably dangerous. Danger is useful but in a comedy, it needs to be funny. Same goes with the confrontation in the pawn shop. It needs to be staged in a funnier way.

This is a terrific Marc Maron.vehicle. In addition to being the primary lead he also does the soundtrack which actually enhances the movie a lot. It's a funny premise, a sword that proves the South wind the Civil War, but it might throw some Americans who don't see the humor under the bus. If you have a Confederate flag in your house and it's not ironic, this film is not for you..

It's surprisingly deep in a VERY funny kind of way. It almost the American version of British dry humor. I gave it a 10 because I believe it takes a lot of talent to pull this off deliberately... Both in script as well casting the correct actors...

I just finished watching "Sword of Trust" and I give it above average marks as a movie. I thought it had good entertainment value, it had something to say without preaching it, it was well cast and well written. It was a low budget movie which used its resources wisely. And above all, it made no pretentions to be anything but what it was, and that puts it above average right there. I was not familiar with the works of Maron or Shelton prior to this movie, but I will look out for their names in future. The story is simple and contains appropriate weirdness for this time in which it was made. Early on a pair of women receive an unexpected inheritance from the estate of an ancient relative: a Civil War sword that is argued to be "proof" that the South won the Civil War. I think writer even invented a new internet term, 'prover' (at least I had not heard it before). A pawnshop owner gets involved and the action mostly revolves around the interactions of the characters involved. I enjoyed Marc Maron's writing and acting, the writing was wryly humorous and observant. The acting was understated. I especially liked Jon Bass' performance as the internet junkie (barely) staffing the pawnshop. Michael Watkins and Jillian Bells' character interactions were believable to a point and well acted. Supporting character Toby Huss was properly 'over' acted and Dan Bakkedahl was solid. I think it was well directed, well acted, the dialogue was cute and humorous for the most part. The background music went well with the rural/ semi-suburban ambiance of the picture, which I also liked. Some of the action is improbable, but it is no more improbable than most movies, including high dollar high attendance shows that are not as entertaining. This movie is about ordinary Americans in an age where the most ridiculous ideas are peddled to all and sundry allowing anybody to partake of any of a collosal amount of conspiracy theories including that the earth is flat. If you like this movie at all you may be interested in a great audio album that predates the internet by a couple score years but does not predate the current insanity: Firesign Theatre's "Everything You Know is Wrong". It was consistently funny and way way ahead of its time. And still is.

Great story-line, great casting, great acting, and hello - awesome cinematography. I'm sure I noticed intentional bokeh effect in several scenes. But the best part was Marc Maron scored the movie. He's REALLY good.