I Used to Be Darker

Taryn (Deragh Campbell) is a runaway from Northern Ireland. She arrives at the Ocean City bus stop in Maryland with little warning. She doesn't know that her aunt Kim (Kim Taylor) and uncle Bill (Ned Oldham) are splitting up. Her cousin Abby (Hannah Gross) is home from her first year of college and is suffering from the breakup. Taryn and Abby tries to find some solace in their dysfunctional family lives.

It's a lot of quiet long uncut scenes without dialog. There are some musical interludes. Some of the characters are musicians and music seems to be important for this movie. Snappy compelling dialog is not as important. That's really what's missing from this indie. Filmmakers Amy Belk and Matthew Porterfield filled this with some family dysfunction but doesn't take full advantage. The problems are never really discussed. It explodes more than anything. There are a few explosions but not much else. This needs to allow the characters talk about stuff and do stuff.

Seems to be like a trend in American stuff right now. At least with the films I saw at the festival. Movies with non-actors. Some kinda realism stuff, ya know? This DEF had style and was feeling some of it. Music was pretty darn cool in spots. Some parts were "hella" slow. Some with the parents were pretty okay. but ya gotta know its a weird film. If this movie sounds like it's right up your alley, by all means go and watch it. But to me most people this movie will still be weird! No not bad, just weird!

I'm def interested in seeing this guys other films though. He has a "coolish" vibe going on.

What to do when your world is in turmoil? You escape. Taryn, a Northern Irish runaway seeks refuge with her aunt and uncle in the USA only to discover that they are on a rocky road themselves. Taryn connects with Abby, her cousin and becomes a bridge of sorts as this family transitions into a new dynamic. This movie has some very emotionally charged scenes and shares the truth that no matter how bad you think you may have it, the grass is not always greener on the other side. In this movie it shares the tale of the realities and complexities of the modern family. Change is a constant force and no one is immune to the complexities of family dynamics. I saw this film as part of the Atlanta Film Festival

I wanted to like this movie more than I did and while I did give it 6 out of 10 stars (that's basically a D in my book), it had potential to be more. Thankfully, I saw it on DVD which had the deleted scenes on it. I don't know why, but they cut an opening sequence that set the groundwork for the entire movie (it was probably about a 10 minute sequence in a movie that only ran an hour and 30 minutes, so editing it out for time really wasn't the reason). It also had more of Adele Exarchopoulos which is the only reason I checked this out in the first place. Cutting 90 percent of her screen time was a bad choice and totally uncalled for. As far as the rest of it goes, this movie couldn't decide if the focus was on Taryn or the musician parents getting divorced. Also, there seemed to be unnecessarily long music sequences and shots of swimming that were pointless. There honestly is a scene where one of the main characters jumps into the pool, swims off screen, comes back into frame and gets out of the pool? What on earth was the point of that scene? If there was a scene to cut over the opening sequence, that was the one. Minor gripes aside, Deragh Campbell as Taryn definitely stood out above the rest of the main cast (in her first role no less according to this site), although Hannah Gross (who has gone on to much bigger things in the decade since this was released) had a nice supporting role as well. I give this movie 6/10 stars only because the opening deleted scene was on the disc. It would've been 4/10 otherwise. If you want to see this, find the deleted scenes.