Miss Ohio

I saw Miss Ohio at the Dances With Films festival and I have to say, I was really blown away. It wasn't like a normal movie where people talk, scene after scene, describing what is happening, but rather like a lost Death Cab for Cutie song, one that you put on late at night and all those memories of youth come rushing back, some fond, some not so fond, but they made you and shaped who you are today. I though it was amazing that such a tender exploration of a young woman's life came from a male perspective. Mr. Fitzsimmons, the writer and director of this, really captured the loneliness and alienation that so many women feel when they are young and trying to find out who they are. I hope more people, male and female, get to see this movie somehow.

A spare, atmospheric little American independent drawing heavily upon out of favor old heavyweights of the 1960's art-house scene. The film chronicles a young woman with no discernible identity as she moves through life heavily influenced by everything around her. There is very little dialogue spoken in the first half, but it is full of quiet moments of everyday beauty. I found it's comment on America's obsession with image to be quite interesting. The gentle musical score was transcendent, done by the composer of QUIET CITY, another beautiful American indy from 2008. The lead actress delivers an understated performance, one that reminded me of a young Monica Vitti, as she aimlessly wanders through the world in search of something to call her own. Bresson's "models" come to mind, specifically MOUCHETTE and "AU HAZARD BALTHAZAR. It was refreshing to see an American indy film use the language of cinema to tell a story, flying in the face of the current hand-held, haphazard approach popularly known as "mumblecore". This is a film very much driven by image and sound. MISS OHIO is far from perfect, not one for the masses, but I found it touching and heartfelt. If you are a fan of cinema, of Antonioni, Bresson, Fassbinder, and Ozu, then this is a film for you. I hope the filmmaker continues down this path. I'm excited to see what he does next.