Christopher Inoa is looking for someone who will buy him pizza
Marty lives off a diet of frozen pizza, potato chips, hot pockets and mountain dew. To finance this snacking he performs a number of small-time cons, knowing every rule and loophole. Why does he do this, to be a dick? He works as a temp for a mortgage company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he makes $9.50 an hour. When his boss asks him to deliver some refund checks, Marty sees easy money. Instead of delivering them he just signs them over to himself. Realizing what he’s done, he freaks, and becomes extremely desperate for cash.
Director Joel Potrykus shoots this dark comedy in a series of long-takes, many of them aimed at Joshua Burge’s (Marty’s) face. It’s part Wes Craven, part Office Space, and a sprinkle of Leos Carax. The further we get into Buzzard, the deeper we go into Marty, who quickly becomes someone we don’t want to be around. Potrykus knows this, and keeps the camera on Marty anyway because we aren’t allowed to ignore someone like him: Someone who is alone, who can be very dangerous and who is living in poverty.
Potrykus understands this and applies a timely bit of social commentary underneath. Some will say that Marty’s current situation is because he isn’t applying himself, you know, to reach the highest rungs of the social ladder. They may have a point, but then what about Derek? Derek (played by Potrykus) is Marty’s homophobic “work friend” and the only other character in this film. He has the hair of a man twice his age and the wall art of someone half it. While Marty (fearing arrest) hides out in Derek’s “Party Zone” (his father’s basement), the two spend hours eating Bugles off a treadmill and play-fight with toys. It’s funny, but it’s also kind of tragic. Here we have two grown men who probably don’t like each other. But Derek (and to a lesser extent Marty) will let this friendship continue, because they have no one else.
In one of the most telling lines in the film, Derek tells Marty he has a chance at getting a 25 cent bonus. It’s funny, because striving to make $9.75 over $9.50 is not much of an accomplishment, but to those who have worked under similar conditions, it is a conversation we can remember having. The world Potrykus shows us in Buzzard is filled with people like Marty and Derek: People who don’t want to contribute to society, because society has forgotten about them. I’m not going so far as to say people like Marty and Derek are complete victims, but before you point and label them degenerates or monsters, ask yourself if there was ever a time in your life where you would have stressed out over $5 dollars. Because there are people living in the same position as Marty every day. Right on the edge, knowing there is no safety net below to save them.
For more on the film, visit it’s website
