Word: byrum
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...cliches--"Nothing pure, old, sport, is ever that simple," or "Do you continue or vanish into the mists of self?"--would seem to be courting ridicule and criticism. Yet despite its inauspicious underpinnings, Inserts manages to transcend a mediocre script to reveal a powerful cinematic drama. Director-writer John Byrum, shooting on a three-week schedule and a minimal budget, has done what all the hotshots for the American Film Theater in many dull and inept efforts could not do--he has preserved the excitement and immediacy of drama, on film...
...Hollywood Spanish mansion. A "degenerate film with dignity," tacked with an "X" rating, conjures images of Emmanuelle and The Story of O. These films are degenerate in the colloquial sense, wallowing in themes of glorified sex and sexual subjection while purporting to be serious artistic works. In Inserts John Byrum deals with degeneracy in a more literal sense, addressing the idea of the moral, spiritual, and intellectual decay of one man--the degeneration of The Boy Wonder from what it is suggesdgd he once was to what he is in the film...
...intimations unexplained. The demise of The Boy Wonder is the major mystery of the film; no explanation is ever given for his peculiarly pathetic state of affairs. Equally musterious is Harlene (Veronica Cartwright), a junkie porno queen who ODs during The Boy Wonder's filming session and who Byrum suggests was once a star in "real films...
...such a pitiful ghost of his former self, he glibly replies that he is not scared of anything. When Miss Cake presses for an answer, an explanation is anticipated. But instead of pouring out his story, The Boy Wonder breaks down in tears and the mystery remains. Given Byrum's weakness for cliches, perhaps it is better that he avoids giving an overt answer. Such a revelation probably would have turned good drama into banal mush. Byrum hints that The Boy Wonder was not able to work in the talking pictures, and there is a nagging suspicion that...
MAHOGANY Directed by BERRY GORDY Screenplay by JOHN BYRUM...