Triple Trouble is the first/fully completed feature film form from The  Residents- the infamous Avant pop/ experimental music collective, who this year are celebrating their 50th anniversary. The film is a heady blend of lop-sided drama, glum psychedelia, bizarre noir-touched mystery, and low-key/off-kilter comedy. With the whole thing, all tied up in typical cryptic and bizarre Resident’s wrappings, include a new & re-tooled soundtrack from the collective. Here from Eternal Flame- is a Blu-Ray release of the film, taking in deleted scenes & a few other things.

Tripel Trouble is from the year 2022. It was directed by the projects handler/manager Homer Flynn, and The Residents themselves. The film plays at one hour and twenty-three minutes, and is largely(save for flashbacks & colour-tinged visual trip-outs) in black & white. This is an unusual though largely effective choice- which of course, plays into noir touched mystery side of things.
 
The film opens by introducing us to our lead/ main character Junior/ Randal Rose(Dustin York) a roughly bearded, and long-haired tied-back ex-Catholic vicar who used to ride a skateboard, but now works as a plumber. He’s talking directly at us through a PC screen, chatting about vague issues he’s been having, and his concerns it’s a certain thing that is causing it.
 
As the film unfolds Junior flashes back through his life- snippets from his work with the church, interactions with his quirky big glasses-wearing mom- who liked guns & American football. And reminiscing about his girlfriend Suzi(Isabelle Elluingson)- who may/ may-not have not been kidnapped/ dead. He also gets on with his now day job being a plumber- and with each job, he gets called out into it seems that the issue is the same- a fungus(thick mayonnaise type gunk) that’s blocking the pipes.

Also, we find out that Junior is the son of Randy Rose- who was the outspoken, balding, and grey straggling-haired singer of The Residents for a few years- and this reality he's now dead. Junior is also getting rather obsessed with The Residents first uncompleted bizarre fantasy film Vileness Fats- which the project worked on between 1972 & 1976.

The film largely focuses on Junior's slow but sure decline into madness, as he wanders around his neighbourhood & in the woods. With his female talking digital sprite attached to a drone keeping him company/ giving him the wrong directions. 

As mentioned early the film is largely shot in Black & White, and as it progresses you start to notice white flecks & darts inside & outside- and these increase as things/junior's madness continues. York is the main/ constant focus of the film- and I must say he does great, really pulling you into his strange/ getting stranger world- with some impressive/ surprising acting appearing along the way.
 
I must say I’m rather on the fence about whether Triple Trouble will appeal to non-Residents fans, as you really need to be relatively knowable about the project/ their mythos. But for myself, as a long-term fan of the project, I very much enjoyed the strange/unnerving trip the film took me on- with York’s performance really enhancing the more emotionally troubling/ mental health elements of the film.
 
 
The region-free Blu Ray, takes a few small extras. First up is the deleted scenes- in all they are four of these, and they each run between the one ‘n’ half, and over the two-minute mark. As much of the film features Junior- these save one are all with him. Next, we get Vileness Fats Unused Animation( 8.19) this takes in a fair bit of footage of the spiral-fronted shopping carts from the film, as well as a snippet of a female-fronted song- which ends with a rather creepy shot of Hardy Fox( the projects former/ sadly departed lead songwriter) taking off his glasses & staring into the camera lens. We have a 2022 remastering of Vileness Fats Concentrated ( 17.24) this was previously released, and basically compiles together the surviving clips from the film, as well as details of who the lead characters were- so this is well worth a look. Lastly, we get three trailers- one for Double Trouble( the first version of this film?!), Triple Trouble, and God In Three Persons Live.

As a long-term fan of all The Residents do/ are- it’s great to see them finally getting around to making a film. And Triple Trouble really is what you’d expect from a feature film from the project, tapping into their distinctive brand of the bizarre/ uneasy odd-ness. At present this Blu-Ray is just available stateside- I’m guessing it will get a release in Europe and the UK soon?!, but if you’re a fan of the project it’s something you certainly need to see/ have. If you're not a Residents Fan, I’d say check out the trailer here.