The counter culture is alive and well in Compound Eye the new documentary/ fiction by Yahn Soon. Jesse Reklaw spends his nights drawing his weekly comic strip, Slowave, which is derived from dreams that readers send in to him. Jesse’s roommate Fausto Caceres works downstairs with found sound to create audio collages for his pirate radio show. Through a discarded scrapbook of letters and photographs belonging to Bill, a schizophrenic loner, Fausto becomes immersed in Bill’s world and in essence befriends the long dead schizophrenic. Jesse and Fausto become embroiled in controversy when he draws a strip depicting the post 9-11 Twin Towers as duel gargantuan stacks of pancakes, functioning as an IHOP staffed by Afghan refugees.

The results are a mixed bag, with some genuine laughs and deep moments outweighed by the “hey guys we’re making a statement!” atmosphere that hangs over the whole piece. All this time, after the new millennium has come upon us, I thought that the counter culture no talent hack New York lifestyle was a thing of the past that was doomed to be one of my swirling memories of artist’s lofts in the summer time and poorly rehearsed performance art pieces. I would have preferred Compound Eye a lot more if it didn’t set out to be as avant garde as it could be right from the get go. As a result, the narrative suffered and the characters, while starting off as believable if a bit eye rollingly clichéd, became as annoying as Fausto’s constant sonic disruptions.

I applaud any filmmaker who attempts to film anything that is close to his heart, but unfortunately not everyone is going to like it. Compound Eye reminds me of a piece made by someone with no talent who got together with many other such artists and decided to form a little compound. A piece like this has enough going against it, from unknown actors to obvious budget issues, and it was a chore to sit through. With such a short running time, it was
disheartening how often I was looking at the clock.

• For more information on "Compound Eye," visit the official website.

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