Christian Perzold returns to the NYFF with a film that feels unfinished
The film is the story of Laura, a girl unconnected to, her life. After a fatal car accident where her boyfriend is killed she ends up staying with Betty a woman living alone who lives down the road from the crash site. Betty is mourning the loss of her daughter.
Requiring the audience to believe a wild string of events (Laura leaves her bag at a river for the hell of, she behaves badly, is in a car accident that is physically impossible, is allowed to stay with a strange woman just because she doesn't want to leave, never does anything about her dead boyfriend and behaves as if nothing happens, and on and on) the film spins out as if it was stripped down version of a longer script. Problems aside there are volumes of things unsaid to the point there are times we are left adrift. It's not bad but there is a sense of a better long film somewhere out there. (preferably one without a shocking revelation that we deduced twenty minutes in)
This is not a bad film. The cast is great, the script has some great moments, but too much is unsaid and missing. I like the film on it's own terms but it is ultimately a minor film from and important director and doesn't belong in a big film festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment