C.O.G. (2013)

Directed by: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Country: USA

Movie Review: In this drama based on a short story from “Naked”, a book of collected essays by humorist, comedian, and author David Sedaris, we can follow David’s adventures in his quest for life experiences. After graduating in Yale, David refuses to go back to Connecticut to start a career right away, which caused a cut in the relationship with his parents, and decides to go to Oregon where he will try a job on an apple farm. Among several disillusions along the way, David is always confronted with faith issues that put to a test his profound atheism. Ironically, he ends up working with John, a self-called c.o.g. aka child of god, who shapes stones in order to turn them into clocks, selling them at local craft fairs. The film is presented as a sad song describing an unfortunate guy who is caught in recurrent bad experiences, but the question is: is he learning something valuable with all those characters who cross his path? The situations presented are more dramatic than funny, conveying a weird mood that gives a touch of darkness and acceptance to David’s life. The problem is that the whole is weaker than the sum of its little stories, which means that the film leaves us with interesting experiences but flat conclusions. The good performances by Jonathan Groff , Denis O’Hare, and Corey Stoll, don’t make Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s sophomore distinguishable for us to remember it in the future. However, enthusiasts of Sedaris’ stories may find something more tasteful here.