Erosion

In Los Angeles, Irene (Charis Michelsen) works at an advertising agency and lives a boring, loveless and sexually unsatisfying marriage with her husband Carl (Lee Holmes). When she meets the mysterious stranger Gabe (Emmanuel Xuereb), they have an erotic love affair breaking into houses of strangers and stealing their lives for a moment. Both are trying to escape from their pasts with a game that pushes them to the limit of their relationship. But reality is there and can not be forgotten.

"Erosion" is a dramatic "unerotic"-thriller about infidelity of a sexually unsatisfied woman with a promising beginning but a boring development and conclusion. One meaning of erosion is "a gradual decline of something"; in this case, of the morality of the lead character Irene. The plot keeps sexual tension but goes nowhere with the non- explicit game of the lovers. The director Ann Lu is not bold enough and in the end, "Erosion" is neither a drama or romance nor an erotic thriller. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Desejo Selvagem" ("Wild Desire")

This is one of the best indie movies that I have seen. I saw it at the Brooklyn Film Festival. The beginning of the movie was a bit slow but a patient audience got rewarded at the end. The storyline is novel and smart. The theme touches the deepest desire of everyone's mind- not satisfy with one's life and want to live another person's life. The acting are both good and so so. The leading actor, Xuereb (???, a difficult name to remember) was brilliant but the leading actress Michelsen was just OK (maybe Xuereb was just too good for her to compare with). This is not a movie for the fast action Hollywood movie seekers but for those indie lovers who have patience and intelligence. It took me some time to fully digest all messages in the movie. I spent $10 for the movie and it definitely worths the money. There is one more thing that I like about the movie. Although it has a very erotic storyline, the director did not put up any unnecessary explicit sex scenes. Well done!!!

I saw this movie with a friend at a benefit screening in LA a few months ago, and for days after the screening I was still thinking about it. The acting is superb, especially the lead actor who plays the role of GABE. I saw a lot of myself in that character, and that's what this movie does, it makes you think about yourself and your life whether you want to or not. The scenes of the failing marriage between the lead actress and her husband are painful to watch because of their realism. But the film isn't just a pure drama, the sex scenes and game playing are erotic and dangerous, without being graphic. The entire production is very original from beginning to end and is really what independent films are supposed to be about. This is one of the movies that's an experience that can enlighten. I encourage anyone to see it for themselves when it gets released to theaters.

I was very glad to have the opportunity to watch this independent film at the Brooklyn International Film Festival.

The film was powerful and well made and the acting was excellent. It's an unexpected and unusual story portraying some very powerful emotions. I look forward to seeing it again and maybe can then catch many things that the director/writer carefully arranged and I missed the first time.

I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good film of gripping story lines and I also recommend the director's earlier film: Dreamers, it's touching in a very different way.

I recently rented Erosion from my neighborhood Hollywood Video and watched it over the weekend. It's an interesting independent film...very anti-Hollywood in terms of its storytelling style. I was originally attracted to the film by its suggestion of eroticism, but it's not until I watch the film when I realized the sexual encounters are not supposed to be for pleasure but more for pain. They are more about the psychological thrill of the moment, the fear to be caught, the voyeur that may be watching. There are not tits and ass in the film, yet it's the audience's own imagination that makes the film so provocative. We are, in a way, their partners in crime. I really enjoyed Erosion and recommend it to anyone whose imagination is not limited by the images they see and the sound they hear...