‘Bellflower’ insightful, imaginative filmmaking

With its mixture of romantic road trips and homemade flamethrowers, a meet-cute over a cricket-eating contest and a brutally bloody climax, “Bellflower” is the real crazy, stupid love.

Evan Glodell directed, wrote, co-produced, co-edited and stars in this ultra-low-budget film – his feature debut – which essentially suggests that getting your heart broken is tantamount to the apocalypse. And it can certainly feel like that when you’re in the middle of it.

But Glodell takes this notion to incendiary heights, and in doing so, has made one of the most wildly creative movies to come along in a while.

He even built the camera used to shoot “Bellflower,” which allows for an oversaturation of colors that vividly reflects his characters’ extremes. That’s just one of many examples of how personal this story is for Glodell, who based it on a bad breakup of his own.

Things are bopping along in hunky-dory fashion at the beginning. Woodrow (Glodell) and Aiden (a hugely charismatic Tyler Dawson) spend their days in sun-drenched Southern California crafting “Mad Max”-inspired weapons and gadgets. (The title comes from the name of the street where much of the action takes place.)

Their piece de resistance is “The Medusa,” a muscle car that shoots flames out the back. They’re slackers with an imagination, as well as a seemingly unlimited supply of cash for beer and cigarettes.

Then one night at their favorite local bar, Woodrow crosses paths with Milly (Jessie Wiseman) when they both agree to jump on stage and see who can scarf down the most crickets. She’s sexy, funny, irreverent, totally herself – and Woodrow is quickly smitten.

Aiden, meanwhile, begins a flirtation with Milly’s best friend, Courtney (Rebekah Brandes). When they’re all together, the party never ends. Until one day, it does.

Woodrow’s state of mind becomes so unreliable as he sinks deeper into despair over the breakup, we wonder whether Milly was ever as great as she was initially depicted – and we wonder what’s real as the film reaches its explosive conclusion.

The combination of insightful truths and imaginative visuals is what makes “Bellflower” so thrilling, and it offers hope that original storytelling is still out there, lurking in the darkness, just waiting for a massive flamethrower to light it up.