Raving

Being a fan of Julia Stiles (The Bourne trilogy, The Omen, The Business of Strangers), I was curious to see her first effort at writing and directing. I was not disappointed.

Bill Irwin (Across the Universe) and Zooey Deschanel (Bridge to Terabithia, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) were both fascinating as flawed individuals whose past is a shadow to us, and who chance encounter brings about profound changes. There is so much here that a full length feature is worth making.

Head over to iTunes and download your copy to see a great first film by a great star.

I watched it because I was intrested in Julia Stiles as a director/writer. I haven't seen Paloma (the web series on WIGS) that she also wrote for and directed so this was my first film with her as a director and writer. I was very pleased with how the movie was shot and filmed, I thought the writing was sharp and well thought of. The movie in itself, since it's only 20 minutes feels a tiny bit rushed towards the end but other than that I don't see whats the problem for everybody leaving bad reviews... The story of course isn't a live changing one but considering this as Julia Stiles first writing/directing credit I don't understand why people have to be so harsh. Not everything you do as a well known person needs or actually can be the best work you ever done and of course there will be better shortfilms done by people that have done this since forever ? I don't understand why a young actress isn't allowed to try out stuff without being bashed for not creating the most relevant piece of work ever. This movie is as another reviewer said a solid character study shot in very clever well thought way with intelligent dialogue and you can clearly see the choices that have been made artisticly. Zooey Dechanel does a great job as well and all in all this is a nice SHORT FILM showing a piece out of the many many different faces of New York City live.

So I don't know what's there to complain about. 8/10.

Raving (2007)

*** (out of 4)

A troubled young woman (Zooey Deschanel) and a lonely middle-aged man (Bill Irwin) meets in a cafe and soon their secrets start to come out. The story is a little hit and miss here but Stiles shows some nice directorial touches and the two actors come across very well. It's never quite clear what issues are going on until the very end and even then it doesn't come over as any big shock but the acting keeps this short moving well. Stiles does a good job building up the two characters but a tighter screenplay would have helped.

I viewed this film and then read the comments. I was surprised by the bad comments. I thought(as an ordinary film viewer)that it was an enjoyable short film. I enjoyed the acting - which was absolutely not as bad as the other reviewers thought. I think Zooey Deschanel has a great future as an actor with the right film. Bill Irwin is an accomplished actor. This part may not have been the right one for him.

I would think that developing two characters in less than twenty minutes is at most impossible. This film is simply a slice of life--and I believe it accomplished that task. Having worked in New York City for seven years early in my business career helped my appreciation of this slice of life.

I'm well aware that a short film gives little room for character development, but the key to a GREAT short film is when the director and writer develop the plot and characters fully in their limited time span. The same is true for short fiction. It takes someone truly talented to do this correctly. Julia Stiles has not. The audience is given no valid reason why they should care about either of the two main characters, who each have their share of issues. There is no logical progression in their relationship. Basically, it was a very frustrating 20 minutes.

I found Zooey Deschanel to be charming and she did well with her material. Bill Irwin's character is obviously meant to be played as a walking shell of a man, but his acting fell flat and was unconvincing.

All in all, this was a failed attempt at something that could have been a compelling portrait of a young New Yorker, a down-and-out business man, and the city they lived in. Instead, we're given a film that feels as if it was done on a whim with no care put into who these characters are.