With shaky camera work, replays of footage in dark editing rooms, microphones ditched in anger, The Dirtieshas all the qualities of a found footage film. Unlike The Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity series, The Dirties’sfootage isn’t trying to capture something otherworldly. Instead, the camera lens is used to document a very real force haunting school halls around the world – bullies.
In his debut movie, 26-year-old director Matt Johnson actually goes back to school in this role, playing the lead of Matt. Filmed in an actual, active school in Toronto (the staff were supportive because it gives a realistic portrayal of bullying) Johnson and his crew were allowed to improvise in the halls and classrooms amongst real students giving the movie an incredibly authentic feel.
The story follows Matt and his best friend, and fellow social outcast Owen (Owen Williams) and the harassment they endure at the hands of their highschool’s bullies ‘The Dirties’. Escaping into the world of film, the pair of movie buffs try to distance themselves from the psychological pain of their daily encounters with ‘The Dirties’ by filtering it through a camera lens.
In an attempt to make the bullying seem less real, the pair start their cameras rolling, making an amateur action-comedy, where they will ultimately get their own back on ‘The Dirties’. But as the scenes pass it’s clear, Matt’s grasp on reality is blurring. Looking back at footage of him being beaten to the ground by one of ‘The Dirties’, Matt comments: “When you see something happening to you on film, it doesn’t seem real”.
This loss of reality rubs off on his frazzled best friend Owen, who in another scene exasperatedly pleads with Matt: “It’s always a movie for you, you’re always acting, I don’t know what’s real and what’s not real”. And neither does the viewer, this piece of metacinema – a faux-student film about students making a film, about their student life – is confusing enough but keeps you engaged to the end until you can see what’s real and what’s not.
