Fourteen

It's amazing to think of how much can be said in 7 minutes of film, particularly 7 minutes without dialog or narration. One only hears the sounds of objects and random noise of kids at play. Yet the movie is very lyrical in its graceful camera-work. Short film tends to get a bad name because most of what is produced is well...quite awful, to be honest. But in the hands of the talented it becomes a powerful medium. Nicole is one of the talented.

The film touches on a subject that is not well known even in America although what is depicted takes place in large swaths of several Western states under the guise of religion freedom. I would love to know what led Nicole to the subject matter.

A young girl somewhere in middle America turns 14 and her life is poised for a momentous change. The camera follows her on that fateful morning as she and her family prepare themselves for the new beginning ahead. That description may seem somewhat lacking, but it can be hard to write a blurb for something like Fourteen a film with no dialogue and a twist ending. What is there to say that doesn't give too much away?

Let me instead attest to its quality rather than its plot. Showcased at numerous film festivals in 2006, (I caught it at Seattle International, but it played SXSW, AFI, Sundance and others) Fourteen is a film of small moments; care is given to each shot, depicting with tenderness seemingly unimportant activities such as an apron being tied, or the young girl's hair being done up, but the shots are linked with such pacing and lyricism that they never fail to keep one's attention transfixed through to the unsettling end. A beautiful score and excellent cinematography further highlight a truly accomplished effort both technically and artistically from director Nicole Barnette.

Today is a little girl's 14th birthday. As she gets all dressed up and pretties herself for her special day, it's obvious that she is very young--looking like she's at most 14 and appearing very virginal and sweet. This continues and builds for quite some time until the end where this is a bit of a twist. Interestingly enough, during all this there was no dialog at all.

The people that made this little film should have been proud of themselves. It was very well filmed, constructed and the choice of the little girl was absolutely perfect--especially since she still looked like a girl, not a blossoming teen. About the only problem with the film is that it was hard to maintain the momentum because the film, at 6 minutes, actually goes on a bit too long and the ending was a bit predictable. Still, a nice story and a good job by all.

The most haunting and effective of the "Film Femme" shorts at the Seattle International Film Festival, this disturbing tale starts out as a happy, benign tale of a young girl's fourteenth birthday. The jovial younger kids, longing in the mirror, the birthday "celebration", at first all seems normal. Without revealing the major, terrifying twist, this birthday is ultimately a "celebration" for our adolescent protagonist's that's bringing her into a grave lifetime commitment of a specific underground lifestyle in the supposed American heartland.

It's an unnerving, VERY audacious 7-minute film, an almost unbearable film at the end, but one that leave's an indelible, potent sting that points our faces to a lifestyle that we often like to pretend doesn't exist.

I was lucky enough to see this at SXSW 2006 and it was an incredibly moving film. Few shorts can gather the audience's attention, especially those under 10 minutes. To do it so drastically with essentially no sound is even more rare. I hate that after festivals nearly all shorts die except for the exception that get picked up by IFC and the obscure chance that you happen upon those selected few. Please post this short on a website somewhere.

Hopefully one day we'll get a chance to buy these for a couple of bucks off iTunes. Then we benefit as well as the filmmakers who shell out their hard earned cash. Or festivals could sell compilation DVD's of the best shorts. Who wouldn't want to buy that? It surly would help these artists raise money for their next projects.