Cinema Verdict Review: Colin Fitz Lives!

Colin Fitz Lives!

OPENING: 08/13/2010

STUDIO: Baby Shark, Inc

RUN TIME:91 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
A comedy about love, death and rock ‘n roll.

Opening Statement
In July of 1996, Robert Bella decided he wanted to direct Tom Morrissey’s script, then called simply, Colin Fitz. For two weeks, he and his small cast and crew, working mostly on deferred salaries and in the rain, completed production on this, Bella’s directorial debut. The universe lined up many times for this film, from being able to grab a treasure trove of stars on the rise such as John C. McGinley, William H. Macy, Mary McCormack, and Matt McGrath, to being accepted into Sundance in 1997 – a high honor, indeed. There was much praise being heaped upon its head, from Roger Ebert to Harry Knowles. Everything seemed to be going very well for this independent feature but when time came to bring out the wallets to buy it, no one did. For 13 years, it sat in Robert Bella’s closet and for 13 years he tried desperately to sell it, if for nothing else to pay back all the investors he owed over $150,000 to. It finally made it to the big screen, but was it worth the wait?

Facts of the Case
Two security guards, Paul (Matt McGrath) and Grady (Andy Fowle), are hired to watch the grave of Colin Fitz on the anniversary of his death. He was a rocker who changed the world but died just before his second album came out (he ate bad clams). They are hired by Colin’s wife (played to sexy perfection by Julianne Phillips) because something tragic occurred at his grave the previous year. Through the night they meet fans of Colin’s, (Martha Plimpton, Will McCormick), wax philosophical about the mysteries of the universe and rock ‘n’ roll (what would the rock world be like if Buddy Holly had tried LSD?) and, as per usual in films of this nature, come out of the other side as better and more fulfilled people.

The Evidence
If you’ve seen Clerks, you’ve seen another, some would say a better, version of this same story. The director, in interviews and Q and As, alludes to Clerks being a big influence on him throughout the making of this film and it is very apparent. Since Clerks had come out only 2 years before this was made and since it was the Sundance darling, it feels apropos that Bella would copy that template to follow in Kevin Smith’s footsteps. The main purpose to see this film, however, is not for the story. The main reason is because it’s a time capsule, it’s the lost film that no one thought they’d ever see. This is John C. McGinley pre-Scrubs. Heck, this is William H. Macy pre-Fargo. Seeing both of them on screen in the tiny, slightly-more-then-just-cameo parts, was odd. I was really surprised that they accepted those roles….then I remembered when this was actually shot. The real story, the more compelling story is what happened behind the scenes, what happened between when the cameras stopped rolling and a distributor decided to give this little film a chance.

Closing Statement
Since finishing Colin Fitz, Robert Bella has been working as a post production supervisor, most recently with Wes Craven. He’s also kept in the industry as an actor (Magnolia, Spartan) and a writer/director/producer (Revengers Inc., Road Kill). Still the mounting debt that he had taken in making Colin Fitz loomed over him with the debt collectors calling. Not only did he owe his financiers the $150,000 he borrowed to shoot the film, but to get a print of the film in order to be able to play in Sundance (what Robert had was a digital copy, but Sundance at that time didn’t have the ability to play a digital print) he maxed out twenty of his credit cards putting him down an additional $100,000. Honestly, making back $250,000 in the late 1990s, the hay day of Independent film, was not a huge stretch of the imagination. People were making tentative deals with him (“If William Macy wins the Oscar for Fargo, we’ll buy the film.”) but nothing ever panned out. After a while he decided to move on, perhaps pay off his debt with his next movie but then film idea after film idea would fall out or go into pre-production hell, or lose funding and years went by. One day Robert was having lunch when he ran into Arianna Bocco of IFC films. They had known each other and therefore she knew the struggles that Robert had been going through with Colin Fitz. She asked him whatever happened to it, and he informed her it was in his closet. Then on a whim, he asked if she’d like to buy it, and to his amazement, she said, “Sure!” After all that time, it was a simple, off the cuff question that sold his film.

The Verdict

5/10

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