Chris Jordan takes on the little known film, Ricky 6.
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| "I just can't wait to star on Mad Men." |
They are the stuff of myths and legends among film fans:
movies that get most or all of the way through production, but for some reason
are never released. The tantalizing mystery of why a film never saw the light
of day, or what it might have been like if it had, naturally captures the
imagination of moviegoers. Or perhaps it is the very fact that the films are
impossible to see that makes them so intriguing: the ultimate rare movie for
collectors to wish they could get their hands on. But every now and then, an
unreleased film finds its way out into the world through unofficial channels:
either someone close to the project leaks it just so it can finally be seen, or
a copy finds its way into the hands of someone who decides to share the secret.
One such film, which exists only as a leaked workprint of its unreleased final
cut, is Peter Filardi's 2000 indie drama Ricky 6. And thanks to YouTube,
it is far more readily available than most rare films ever get to be.
A moody character study telling the true story of a New
England teenager's psychological downward spiral, Ricky 6 was
screenwriter Filardi's first (and only) film as a director, and generated a
decent amount of buzz before its sudden and strange disappearance. It got as
far as a few festival showings, where it was greeted with strong reviews and a
couple awards, and it was even slated for a North American theatrical run. But
then something happened – allegedly having to do with behind-the-scenes
financial troubles and the legal complications that they caused – and the film
suddenly found itself in an un-releasable limbo, where it has stayed for
fifteen years. But eventually bootleg DVDs of the film's final workprint began
circulating, and someone claiming to be Peter Filardi posted the workprint on
YouTube. Could it be that the writer/director leaked his own film, just so it
could be widely seen at last? The leaked workprint is of pretty good quality
too, all things considered: a somewhat washed-out VHS copy with burned-in
timecode, but the finished cut of the movie, with completed post-production
work, music, and audio mix. Not ideal, of course, but more than good enough for
a film that was never supposed to be released at all, and way better than the
typical workprint. Even in this state, Ricky 6 is a very good movie.
Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men, Angel) plays Ricky, a
sensitive but troubled kid in the mid-1980s struggling with more than his share
of psychological and emotional baggage. As he searches desperately for some
sort of purpose or sense of belonging and acceptance, he discovers Satanism,
and it provides the perfect outlet for his feelings of depression and
alienation. It is clear from the opening scene that Ricky is in a dangerously
steep downward spiral that cannot end well (the film is told in flashback), but
the focus is not on where Ricky ends up, or what he ultimately does; it is on
understanding him as a person, and exploring his frayed mental state. It is
hard to not feel sympathy for this kid who is quite literally going through a
personal hell just to find some sense of knowing where he fits into the world
around him – particularly thanks to Vincent Kartheiser's excellent, empathetic
performance. A few years before his television fame, this film already shows
what a strong actor Kartheiser is.
Ricky's story is told in a very drifting, slice-of-life
style, typical of 90s indie films: we hang out with him and his friends (one of
whom is played by Patrick Renna, the redhead kid from The Sandlot), and
get to be a fly on the wall of their lives; getting to know them as people, and
observing their various psychological troubles and the ways in which they cope
with them. But we also get to see things subjectively from Ricky's perspective,
and this can be quite startling indeed: the film gives us several hallucinatory
dream and drug trip sequences, in which his Satanic beliefs come to life before
his eyes. This mix of styles is at times reminiscent of both Boys Don't Cry and
Heavenly Creatures. With Boys Don't Cry, the film shares its
exploration of alienated youth in a small town whose story is told under an
oppressive air suggesting impending doom. With Heavenly Creatures, the
film shares its skill at vividly capturing its troubled protagonists' mental
state, showing us the world through their eyes. It must be said, Ricky 6
is not quite as great as either of those films – it does have some flaws that
stop it from reaching that level – but it is nonetheless very good, and uses
these styles very strongly.
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| "VHS quality is SOOOOOO rad!" |
Most of the film's flaws simply stem from it being a
relatively low-budget indie. The production values are occasionally a bit rough
around the edges, and while stars Vincent Kartheiser and Chad Christ (as
Ricky's best friend and our narrator) give very good performances, the
supporting cast is a bit more uneven. But for an independent film like this,
these things are perfectly forgivable; on the whole, Ricky 6 is very
impressive, especially for a first feature. The somewhat washed-out VHS quality
of the workprint may not allow us to fully appreciate the film's cinematography
and lighting design, but even in this state it looks very good. The
dream/nightmare/hallucination sequences in particular are very well-done, and
quite haunting.
Had Ricky 6 actually been released, at the very least
it would have become something of a cult classic, and done very good things for
Peter Filardi's career. Yet sadly that was not to be; and as it is, Filardi never
directed again, and has only written a couple scripts since. At the very least,
we can be happy that someone – whether it was actually Peter Filardi or not –
was kind enough to leak the film onto YouTube, so that even if it never finds
its way out of distribution hell, it can still be appreciated, and still
managed to find a bit of a cult following after all.
