Directed by Ryan Kruger, Fried Barry features an xpansive cast led by Gary Green alongside Bianka Hartenstein, Sean Cameron Michael (Shooter, Blood Drive), Chanelle de Jager (The Widow, Outlander), Joey Cramer (Flight of the Navigator) and Jonathan Pienaar (Blood Diamond, Roots). Stream the film now via Shudder.
Synopsis
Fried Barry follows the story of a drug-addled degenerate who, after yet another bender, gets abducted by aliens. Barry takes a backseat as his alien visitor assumes control of his body and takes it for a joyride through Cape Town. What follows is an onslaught of drugs, sex and violence as Barry’s alien tourist enters the weird and wonderful world of humankind.
Review
There are few words in existence which could describe Fried Barry, a lurid acid trip through Cape Town’s club culture at the hands of an alien visitor. It’s at times barely coherent, often gross and utterly bonkers but all of that adds up to an incredibly successful, gritty joyride from director Ryan Kruger.
The titular Barry (Gary Green) is a junkie father of one prone to going out on benders and not forthcoming in his fatherly duties. After a night out he’s kidnapped by aliens in one of the film’s most frenzied montage sequences. When his body is returned to Earth Barry is no longer in control as one of the aliens takes the wheel for the remainder of the runtime.
What follows is a collection of scenes, some taken from Kruger’s original short film, that expose the alien to different, often drug-fuelled, aspects of human life. Scenes vary from sexual explicit body horror to extreme violence. But all have their part to play in Alien-Barry’s exploration of Earth. The film favours shocking imagery and displays it with an abundance of bodily fluids. It’s not for the faint of heart but under the surface is a character portrait which has a lot to engage with.
Along the way Alien-Barry is able to make some emotional connections. No small feat given that the alien rarely ever utters a sound. Barry’s wife, played by the extremely capable Chanelle de Jager, takes the lions share of the work. Her length, expletive laden Afrikaans rants are a highlight. Belittling her husband and never once realising he is no longer himself. Bianka Hartenstein’s prostitute is also a highlight in the cast, her connection with the alien adds a level of humanity which is surprisingly unexcited given the hyper-realist scenery which goes on around them.
However it is Green who is the real standout. Having previously worked as a stuntman and with only a handful of non-speaking roles under his belt he is nothing short of magnetic on screen. He lurches around Cape Town in an almost Frankenstein-like manner but commands the screen in seemingly impossible ways.
Kruger’s story portrays a director with talents yet to be uncovered. The structure of Fried Barry is unique enough that it warrants further exploration. With a spoof warning about the film’s content at its beginning to an interlude which fails at subtle messaging around cinema snacks. Underneath the layers of extreme visuals is an understanding of human comedy I would like to see Kruger explore elsewhere.
Verdict
Exploring the seedier side of Cape Town has never been more fun than when seen through the eyes of drug-addled Barry.
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