The man, the myth, the legend, Neil Breen returns with yet another magnum opus. Pass Thru features all of Breen’s hallmarks: Scenes of Breen playing an all-powerful being who walks aimlessly through the desert, tigers, random suicides, and tons of vitriol being spewed at crooked lawyers, politicians, and bankers. In short, it’s another banger by Breen.
This time, Breen sets his sights on the immigration problem. Two women flee a caravan of people leaving “their country” (which country is never stated) when drug runners try to gun them down. They take off into the desert where they stumble upon Thgil (Breen), a junkie who offers them shelter. Little do they know he’s actually AI from the future in human form who has been sent back in time to eliminate corrupt and evil people.
Pass Thru is easily identifiable as a work of manic genius right from the get-go. Breen’s absolute refusal to use transition and/or establishing shots will give you whiplash as the film plays out in a series of visual non-sequiturs. The acting is terrible (especially by the female leader of the caravan), which only adds to the hilarity.
As with I am Here… Now, Breen plays another whacked-out deity. In the film’s most memorably bonkers sequence (Spoilers for a batshit crazy Neil Breen movie), he causes “The Cleanse”, which is like a reverse Rapture and makes all the bad people on Earth disappear. Then, he goes all Network on our ass and commandeers a TV news studio and rants and raves about corruption in business, government, and other American institutions.
The funniest bit though is after he makes all the gunmen leading the caravan disappear. What does he tell the grateful refugees crossing over to the United States trying to start a new life? “GO HOME! Make a difference THERE!” Incredible.
Not many directors can be called true auteurs, but Breen is certainly one of them. He trots out all his tried-and-true themes and visual motifs yet again and wears his heart on his sleeve, technical and budgetary limitations be damned. Nobody, and I mean nobody, could make a movie like Pass Thru in a million years. Very few directors begin their career with banger after banger, but Double Down, I am Here… Now, Fateful Findings, and Pass Thru are about as good/bad as you can get
In Breen we trust.
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