Mr. Jones (2013) Directed by Karl Mueller

OK I admit! The only reason why I wanted to see this movie was because of its awesome looking cover. So does the movie live up to its great cover? Well, yes and no.

This movie is a bit of an odd and unusual one and that's both a good and bad thing about the movie. It's hard to label this movie. Guess you can still say that it's a horror movie but it by no means is a straightforward or conventional one. It feels more like an art house production, with its way of storytelling and visuals at parts. And of course nothing wrong with any of that, as long as the movie is a good and engaging one to watch. But while the movie is mostly captivating, I just can't say that it's a very engaging or interesting one as well with the story.

The way of storytelling constantly ensures that not everything is ever fully clear. The movie loves to keep you in the dark about things and it pretty much keeps you guessing, right till the very end. This is of course something that works out well for the mystery of the movie but it's only something that can work for so long though. And indeed, after a while I also really started to loose interest in the movie. The story is giving you far too little at times and after a while it also starts to feel like the movie is starting to repeat itself.

There still is one thing I really like and admire about the movie though. In essence, it's a found footage movie but luckily far from a formulaic or standard one. It's actually a movie that besides found footage elements also still features 'normal' film-making and storytelling in it. So instead of constantly telling things from the main character's perspective, the camera also literally takes a step back at times, so you are better able to see what's going on and where things are taking place at. It all sounds so simple and logical; Use 'normal' film-making techniques to tell the main story of the movie and use found footage elements when the movie is supposed to get tense and scary, yet it's the first genre movie (that I can think of and are familiar with) since "Cannibal Holocaust" to really do this. It's a very effective approach and I really do wish that some more genre movies will start to do this.

Besides the fact that I wasn't always too fond of this movie its story and storytelling, I still have to say that the movie is a pretty well directed one. Maybe this is not exactly the right type of movie or story for Karl Mueller (even though he wrote the story himself) but it's clear that he definitely has some real talent! Both visually and technically it's a pretty impressive movie, especially considering that this probably was one that was made on a very low budget.

Really a movie with plenty of good elements, as well as plenty of less effective- and successful elements in it. It's still unique and good enough to consider it to be a watchable one in my opinion though.

6/10

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