At little over than one hour screen time, ATLF has the difficult task of having a lot to deliver in quite a little time period. That it doesn’t live up to this task is therefore unsurprising. What is surprising is that the director thought that such a thin premise would actually translate to a full feature film; if your 65 minute film is 'bloated', you've got problems!
As a short, this would have actually been alright, as a sweet albeit pretentious exercise that feels like a cross between French New Wave and an episode of Rod Sterling’s Night Gallery. The grieving, often topless Armelle believes she can make contact with her late boyfriend Renaud, and appears to have inadvertinently acquired telekinetic/telehypnotic powers after a failed suicide. Will she reunite with her lost love? Will she learn to love another? Or will she just wander off into the forest to the bemusement of the audiences everywhere?
Introducing the film, the director explained that he wrote the story specifically for the non-actress playing the lead, after seeing her on the street. Also, that he wrote it and made the movie quickly. That about sums it up. It's slight, breezy stuff that I didn't particularly like or dislike with any sort of intensity. The French convey this type of indifference with a slight shrug of the shoulders, shaking of the head, and perhaps a quietly uttered, 'Bof', meaning, 'Whatever'.
Can't really recommend.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment