Penny Thoughts ‘13—I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney (1993) *

UR, 16 min.

Director: Ben Affleck

Writers: Jay Lacopo, Kamala Lopez

Starring: Jay Lacopo, Karla Montana, Johanna McCoy

With Ben Affleck’s latest directorial effort “Argo” poised as the one to beat for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, this little mistake is beginning to pop up all over the Internet. I can see no reason The Well shouldn’t jump in on the action.

Made when Affleck was a student at Occidental College, Affleck himself describes this film as “atrocious.” While it is quite bad, I can find some redeeming qualities to it. It sure is original. It has a couple of funny moments, and has a little fun with a couple of jabs at the film industry. I love how the filmmakers reason that the first girl is "too ethnic" when it is revealed later that the role is for an hispanic migrant worker. Stylistically, I like the sequence where he cuts between his two leads as they build their backgrounds, although having her hide under the bed for a phone call is a little silly. That would probably be the end of the list of positives.

I don’t really know the background information on the film. It was written by its star, who is currently a working screenwriter. It sure looks like a student film, but Affleck was not studying filmmaking at Occidental. I’ve certainly seen worse student films. I’ve been in one. But, it’s true. This is pretty atrocious stuff. It just goes to show you how far you can travel with a dream.

You can watch the film in its entirety in two parts below.