Written by: Ryan Dailey
Split is a collaboration from White Gardenia and Jack Mulvanerty that can not be categorized, nor can it be reviewed as a traditional film. This is not a traditional film. It is an experience. Focusing on Gardenia’s contribution, Torture Theatre,it is meticulously crafted, each shot, every sound designed to invoke discomfort and provoke thought. The thirty minute run time of his segment is an interesting study in how sex and violence are not so different. The act of penetration is represented by the use of sharp instruments, accompanied by a brilliant musical score and practical effects that are to be seen to be believed.
This project is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those that do not like to think. This project will cause the viewer to face how consumerism and religious beliefs are ingrained in human nature, and human nature is not rational nor is it pretty.
Split does what all good art is supposed to do, invoke thought, question the norms and capture the attention of the audience. The viewer is allowed to take away from it what they want. The intellectuals will consider just how deep the primal urges of humans go and what they are capable of, how jaded people have become to the act of intercourse and how impressionable the human race can be. The less evolved will see blood and nudity and that will be all they take away from the experience. Split is a stellar example of what film can do and be when sweaty, moral-less Hollywood filth is not in control, giving notes and worrying about a profit margin.