Infiel

I had the privilege of seeing this film at the LA Film Festival. I was struck by how authentic the performances are and how much chemistry was shared between Travis (Matt McGorry) and Ellen (Amy Hargreaves). The story unfolds beautifully due to the strong direction from Marc Meyers and skillful editing from Jamie Kirkpatrick. The cinematography from Ruben O'Malley is intimate and invites us into how the two leads fall in love. I sincerely hope that this film gets picked up. I think it would resonate with many of us who are trying to find our way in the world and who believe we lack that one element in our lives that would make us whole.

I liked this movie more than I expected to. The story stayed with me long after I'd watched it as I found the characters to be very authentic, and the casting and portrayals were very good. The movie doesn't condone, justify, or glamorize extramarital affairs. In fact,it reveals how something that might, at first, seem like just a casual and temporary dalliance can snowball into lasting negative consequences for everyone involved. When the affair begins, I was thinking she should have stopped it right at the first kiss, but then... there wouldn't be a movie.

As Ellen's feelings for young Travis strengthen, she becomes torn up over her betrayal to her husband, who is nearly 20 years older than her. The affair brings up negative emotions that she'd probably been suppressing for quite a while, although she truly cares for her husband and the life they've created together. These conflicting emotions help explain how it was relatively easy for her to begin the affair with Travis in the first place.

The ending also seems realistic and appropriate, not fully resolving what happened, but highlighting how the characters' lives have significantly changed.

This movie is a gem for an indie lover like me. The simplicity of the story allowed focus on the complex and nuanced layers of the characters. Quite understated in its presentation, the film allowed us to fully digest each of the completely moving scenes. In each scene, there were so many feelings that resonated with me. This movie had a similar unrequited love theme that is found throughout the indie film landscape, but it still came across as fresh and compelling. The actor's chemistry was strong, though it took a few scenes to kick into gear. As a big fan of character movies, this one delivers on every level.

While AmyAmy Hargreaves, in her quirky, super appealing, and unpredictable realization of the character was particularly engaging, I felt the most important scenes in the film were delivered brilliantly by the jilted husband played by Mark Blum. Blum was absolutely perfect in every scene and had the gravity to pull the other actors into a heightened drama.

The smallness of this production was also refreshing and intimate. I love when films don't feel slick and over-rehearsed. I would have given this film a 10, were it not for a certain overly-sharp character shift of Amy Hargreaves in a scene set in the morning. But I will overlook that because the rest of the film was working so well. They say 90% of a director's job is casting. I bet that was the case in this excellent film, too. Bravo to everyone involved in this movie.

I caught this terrific movie at LA Film Fest in 2015, glad to see it's getting distribution. The film features fantastic performances from the leads Amy Hargreaves, Matt McGorry and the ensemble cast. And its always great to see veteran character actor Mark Blum. It was beautifully shot (made me miss NYC), scored and confidently written and directed by Marc Meyers. This is a grown-up film about grown-ups. Full disclosure, I have known and worked with the director. Its been wonderful to watch him to grow into the assured filmmaker that brought about this work. This film is everything we love about independent film. Bravo and highly recommend!

Good stuff, the real stuff takes time!! ~favourite words in the movie~