FRAZIER PARK (Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 at 6 a.m.)—Jason and Brandon Trost of Lebec are having the fun of seeing their first independent feature film, The FP, gather fans in festivals from Austin to Montreal this year. Now they are bringing their work for hometown fans to see. There will be a free screening at Tait Ranch in Frazier Park on Saturday, Aug. 6 at 9:30 p.m. This is an ‘R’ rated parody, not suitable for youngsters or even sensitive ears. There is wall-to-wall profanity, if the preview trailer is to be believed, so be advised. That said, it is an innovative piece of work as a low-budget feature film that has now garnered the enthusiasm of filmmakers across the continent.
This week it was announced that Drafthouse Films will provide theatrical distribution for The FP. They plan to open it in movie theaters in early 2012.
Here’s a snippet from indieWIRE by Bryce J. Renninger, in which he names the Trost brothers as one of "The Four Coolest Things about the 2011 Fantasia Film Festival" in Montreal last week:
"The Trost Bros. Brandon and Jason Trost’s Dance Dance Revolution-inspired battle film, “The FP,” was acquired at the festival by Drafthouse Films, but at their high-octane Montreal screening they were already stars. Set in their Southern California hometown of Frazier Park, “The FP” follows two warring factions as they fight for dominion over the area and its liquor laws. (The gangs are organized by area code and dance in “beat-offs” to an arcade game called Beat-Beat Revelation.)
"The film alternately riffs on 80s cult classics and takes its cue from white suburban kids trying to be urban and the brothers admitted that “75% of this dialogue came from douchebags from our hometown.” However, the Trosts assured the audience that despite the Bon Jovi hair and eye patch on our hero JTRO (portrayed by Brandon), this is an exaggerated portrait of Frazier Park today. After the screening, Brandon Trost took on audience members to a series of DDR competitions at a local arcade.
"The brothers got bonus points for sporting colorful Montreal T-shirts (Jason’s sported a magic-marker ‘F*** Yeah’ surrounding the name of the city) and for cheering on three members of the crowd in a maple syrup-eating contes."
And here’s the story in this week’s issue of The Mountain Enterprise about the screening this Saturday.
The FP Wins Distributor
Free Local Screening
Screening of The FP set for this weekend (‘R’ rated)
Date: Saturday, Aug. 6
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Place: Tait Ranch
3344 Frazier Mountain Park Rd., Frazier Park
Admission is Free. Bring blankets or camp chairs plus snacks as there is no seating or refreshment concession provided.
By Patric Hedlund
The talented “bad boys, bad girls” filmmakers from Frazier Mountain are on their way home to Frazier Park for a free showing during Fiesta Days weekend of their first independent feature film. Jason and Brandon Trost co-wrote and co-directed this R-rated indie action spoof.
The film was shot here in the Mountain Communities, with many local faces. It is filled with sarcasm and profanity, called by Moviefone “an instant cult classic” that gained both fans and enemies at the SXSW (South by Southwest) SXFantastic sidebar festival in Austin, Texas in March of this year.
The co-directors’ sister, Sarah Trost, made her mark as costume designer for the film and as chief heckler during the screening, in a prank that inflamed the ire of some critics, who attributed the gaffe to “Four Loko poisoning.”
The film has just been contracted for distribution to Drafthouse Films (creator of the SXFantastic event). A limited opening distribution is planned for early in 2012.
Renn Brown, of Chud.com (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) got the joke. In his review, he said The FP “is an unwinking, serious-faced parody, and it’s an experience you’ve never quite had before.
“Patterning itself off of movies like The Warriors and Mad Max that exist in vaguely post-apocalyptic, dystopian setting where psychopathic gangs rule the land, The FP seems like it exists in our universe, just in a place that’s spiraled off into its own white-trash nightmare.
“In this isolated little place called Frazier Park, disputes are solved and credibility is sealed by the results of life-or-death Dance Dance Revolution battles (called ‘Beat Beat Revelations’ in this world)….”
Brown admits to laughing himself into a “comedic coma” after the first act, watching in silent appreciation of absurdity taken beyond the edge and back again. “…There’s a dedication to irony here that I think a wider range of filmgoers can appreciate, even if they never need another film to do it again. The FP is a film that happens to you in the best way possible, and one you aren’t going to forget.”
Adults; R-Rated for profanity, nudity
[Story updated and corrected at 10 a.m. August 4; On August 5 at 7:15 a.m. the information about a second screening was withdrawn by the distributors. The only screening is at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6]
This is part of the July 29, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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