I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Slow, ponderous, and boring. Not even Manson could save this mess.

I hadn't heard about "Let Me Make You a Martyr" prior to finding it. Nor can I say that I have been missing out on a jewel in film history.

Little did I know that Marilyn Manson was starring in the movie. But when I found out, it did heighten my interest in watching it. So of course, I found the time to sit down and watch it.

Well, some of it at least. I think I endured somewhere between 25-30 minutes of the ordeal that is known as "Let Me Make You a Martyr" before I gave up. I was utterly bored with this movie on so many levels. The characters in the story were lacking appeal, and they seemed like they were just invented on the spot as the director went along. And it turned out to be characters that you simply didn't invest any emotional attachments into; you simply just don't care one bit about the characters in the movie.

And the storyline was all over the place, which made for a befuddled and confusing mess of a story. Which ultimately was the main reason for why I gave up on the movie and turned it off. I could get through it if it was just the characters that were unappealing, but the storyline failed to appeal to me, and thus ended "Let Me Make You a Martyr" prematurely.

This is not a movie that I will be returning to watch again at any time ever. It just have zero appeal to me.

Intelligent, thoughtful film about people who are depraved or damaged; disturbed or lost; and even some who are innocent. And the various shades their souls are colored in is very much at the core of this film.

That a film grounded in gritty reality is also willing to embrace the surreal is, in these capable hands, neither jarring nor disconcerting. It hints at supernatural elements as any serious film concerned with individuals questioning life and what comes after could be expected to do. Great credit goes to the directors for their reserved and concise visual direction and their securing consistently natural and believable performances from actors playing a range of characters that easily could have slipped into the grotesque or clichéd . There is real intelligence in the writing; the rich dialogue defies the stereotypical expectations of how such rural characters speak and behave, and does so by being so specific in relation to the character's worldviews - and the fact that such lowlifes HAVE worldviews is all too often ignored by screenwriters who only know of life what they have seen in other lesser movies.

That it is refreshing, and engaging, is not to say that it is completely without flaws. Unfortunately it too often feels more a collection of intriguing scenes than a cohesive whole, and in the "clever" cutting between time frames, and character's points of view, we lose a bit of what would allow our emotional connection to such worried and wasted souls to grow beyond mere empathy for their weaknesses and struggles. I also had some technical issues; some photography was way too dark (not moody dark but muddy dark) and there are several sequences where the sound is excessively muted, and even if these are intentional effects they seem so unmotivated, or inconsistently so, that they feel more like mistakes. But these are caveats that keep it from being a great film as opposed to an extremely good one. Most films made these days would be damn lucky to be as solidly crafted

It is also not a movie for everyone; if you only want to focus half your attention on the film it's going to seem dull, boring and confusing. If you are not interested in hearing characters worldviews and think any dialogue that doesn't advance the plot is "too wordy" then you're not going to like it. But for those of us who thrive on intelligent, original and unique films as opposed to recycled, regurgitated mediocrity, films like this are a great relief.