JOBE’Z WORLD
dir. Michael M. Bilandic, 2018.
USA. 68 mins.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 – 7:30 w/Mike Bilandic, Jason P. Grisell, Theodore Bouloukos, and others for Q&A
(This event is $10.)

TUESDAY, APRIL 9 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 23 – 10 PM

The latest – and, arguably, greatest – from Bilandic and his stable of collaborators is a downtown elegy dedicated to the nitehawks, weirdos, and recluses that haunt the shadier corners of our fair metropolis. Combining the director’s trademark satirical sensibility with a ticking-clock suspense story, JOBE’Z WORLD charts one night in the life of the titular rollerblading pill-slinger (Jason P. Grisell) and his beastin’ cadre of tough customers. Jobe’s otherwise average workday takes a turn for the bizarre with a special delivery for master thespian Royce David Leslie, a larger-than-life A-list star heartily portrayed by Theodore Bouloukos (recently anointed by New Yorker critic Richard Brody as “a secret weapon of independent cinema!”). After Leslie’s livestreamed drug overdose goes viral, Jobe takes to the streets, evading paparazzo and police with mercurial swiftness and an armload of disguises. Spacey, succinct, and side-splittingly hilarious, here’s a chance to see one of the year’s best.

Part of MIKE MADNESS: Three Films by Michael M. Bilandic

Does the phrase “New York microbudget indie” give you hives? Are you worn out from watching the same three sadsacks navigate “existential crises” and blather on about Artaud as they amble down Brownstone-lined sidestreets? Rest easy, weary cinephile, because Spectacle has a hotshot of free-wheeling macabre aimed directly at your jugular!

Cultural anthropology and low-budget unpredictability mix and mingle on the mean streets where writer-director Michael M. Bilandic has trained his jaundiced camera eye. Burned-out techno DJs, gangs of marauding teen rap-rockers, and a rollerblading drug dealer are just a handful of strange characters you’ll meet in this alt-teur’s cinematic Rolodex. Bilandic’s films are something of best-kept secret around these parts – produced the fringes of New York’s humble movie colony, these sui generis works beg to be celebrated.

These three feature films – HAPPY LIFE, HELLAWARE, and the spanking-new JOBE’Z WORLD – are untouchable works of rare art that mark this cool cat as one to watch. Think you can handle the multi-sensory stimulation of American independent cinema’s boldest visionary? Shed those presumptions and take a dip – the water’s fine