Courting Chaos, directed by the New Zealand director, Alan Clay, is an Indie film that is definitely well worth seeing, and it is a beautiful love story that will make viewers think of clowns in a different way. While most people either think of clowns as being funny and entertaining performers at circuses and children’s birthday parties, or they are terrified of them and think that they are evil, Courting Chaos is a romcom about a woman, Ginger, who falls in love with a guy at Venice Beach who is a clown, and she becomes one, herself.
Courting Chaos had its debut at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival in 2014. The understated but humorous movie won the award for Best Comedy Film there. Last March, at the Geneva Film Festival in Chicago, writer and director Alan Clay won the Best Director award for Courting Chaos, and the Indie movie won the Special Jury Award for Romantic Comedy at Worldfest in Houston, Texas. At the same film festival, Rachelle DiMaria, who plays the lead role of Ginger, was nominated for the Best Actor award. At the Accolade Awards, held in California, Courting Chaos won the Best Feature Film award and Alan Clay won the Award of Merit for Best Director.
The movie Courting Chaos focuses primarily on the relationship that Ginger has with her mother, Darlene, who is played by Nancy La Scala, and also on Ginger’s decision to become a clown and her eventually falling in love with the hunky Chaos, a talented clown on Venice Beach who gives Ginger lessons on how to be a clown. Chaos is played very ably by the talented actor, Alastair Bayardo. Ginger’s mother wants her to pursue a modeling career, and she wants to act as Ginger’s manager. However, Ginger has a mind of her own, and she decides she would be happier being a clown and pursuing the guy she has fallen in love with, Chaos.
With Courting Chaos, besides viewers being entertained by the film’s many comedic moments, they will also get a peek into what it is like being a clown in today’s world, entertaining people on Venice Beach. The relationship that Ginger’s mother has with her, of being an overbearing stage mother, changes as the film goes on, and in the hands of a less talented director, it could have become a cliched type of relationship. But, in the hands of Alan Clay, their relationship is more fully developed, and Ginger’s mother becomes a fully-fleshed, three dimensional character.
The love that blossoms between Ginger and Chaos seems real and like something that could actually happen. The interactions between actress Rachelle DiMaria as Ginger and Alastair Bayardo as Chaos are acted and directed extremely well, adding to the sense of realism viewers who watch this Indie movie will experience. Ginger does not decide to become a clown lightly. She must confront her own fears and she has some trepidation about her decision, but she feels that becoming a clown and courting Chaos and being honest with herself and her emotions is worth it.
The award-winning Indie film, Courting Chaos, has a very talented ensemble cast and it is one of director Alan Clay’s best films yet. It is a film that will both touch viewers and make them laugh out loud at various times as they watch the plot unfold. Courting Chaos is a movie that will make viewers change their minds about clowns, and will delight and entertain them. Check out the clip from Courting Chaos below, and the Indie film is available to be seen in its entirety on Amazon Prime or Amazon Instant Video, or internationally on IndieReign and Vimeo On Demand.
Written By Douglas Cobb
Courting Chaos Official Trailer/Courtesy Alan Clay and YouTube
