Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby

Sometimes insomnia is a good thing. Late night cable holds all kinds of jewels just use the TV Guide as a map, and look for this one. It is a dark film that appeals admittedly to a small crowd. This is a case where the small crowd is right. I love the strange feeling the film seems to have. At times hard to watch and at others you will wish you could see just at little more. And maybe they should have gone on a little; the ending lacks the overall feel of the rest of the film. And to be honest it almost ruined it. But two days later when I was still thinking about it, I knew I had to see it one more time. It does have something for everyone but is not for everyone that's kinda strange but then it is a strange movie.

It's difficult to know how to react to oddball films like this.They're not funny enough to be called black comedies and not clever enough to be termed satires. Obviously the director wants us to be shocked and disgusted and just as obviously wants us to keep on watching, in this I think he succeeds in all directions. No matter what the reactions I think very few people will not see it through to the end for the pacing is just right with action scenes coming at just the right moments.

There's a somewhat cheap look to the production, photography is sometimes poor but there are a few nicely composed scenes. The acting is excellent with Vincent Gallo a standout as Sister Gomez.

See it by all means but you have been warned.

Freeway and Freeway 2 are my all-time favorite movies!! I'll admit Freeway was more mainstream with very little sex and violence, and Reese Witherspoon is stunning and superb as Vanessa, but Freeway 2 breaks ALL the rules!! I've watched it several times and have it on VHS. This movie's got it all: girls in prison, bad girls gone badder,lesbianism, miscegeny, menstruation, childhood sexual abuse, bulimia, female serial killers, necrophilia, incest, hypocrisy in religion, radical feminism, chicks who pose as hookers to beat up and rob male tricks, manifestations of sexism and racism (in a very satirical way). The best part is that these things are all represented in an in-your-face matter-of-fact way. Its no sappy, emo-drama, Lifetime "channel for women" type of deal. This movie ROCKS! O, and there is some male frontal nudity at the end. I wonder, is that REALLY Vincent Gallo in that scene or just a prop??

Anyone who has seen the first film in this series will notice numerous major differences between the two films. While the story line and plot structure are very creative and innovative, the way the story was portrayed was less than commendable. Many parts of the film seem overtly sexual and as if they were created for fetish more than to add to the film. There were multiple parts of the film like this, which made it seem more like pornography than a legitimate film starring females. I think this film would've been much better without the extreme efforts to seem "weird", and also without the overuse of pointless and explicit sexuality.

Matthew Bright's unique retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Hansel and Gretel is a twisted, violent, shocking and entertaining film which takes the 'road movie' concept and injects it with class-A hallucinogenics. The result is a lurid nightmare tale of prostitutes, serial killers, cannibalism and paedophilia.

Natasha Lyonne shows she is capable of far more than just teen comedies by starring as White Girl, a bulimic teenager who poses as a whore in order to savagely attack and rob her 'tricks'. Sent to prison for 25 years, she befriends Cyclona (María Celedonio), a psychologically fragile murderous chronic-masturbator(!) and together they escape and head for Tijuana, Mexico, where Cyclona hopes they can find sanctuary with her childhood protector, Sister Gomez (Vincent Gallo).

This freakish fairy tale is certainly not for mainstream audiences, but those who dig more unusual fare should certainly get a kick from the non-stop weirdness on display. With Bright's array of 'colourful' characters and a story that unfolds in an unpredictable fashion, the film certainly never bores.

Much fun can be had spotting the parallels between this film and its source material, Hansel and Gretel. The film uses the theme of food prevalent in the Grimm's classic story, and features an interesting take on the 'trail of breadcrumbs' and a really nasty 'witch'.

A heady concoction of exploitation, art-house, action and horror, Confessions of a Trickbaby is recommended to fans of cinema's wild side, and particularly to those who enjoyed Natural Born Killers, with which it shares a similar vibe.