john-broadway

A little surprised about some of the negative comments this little gem has received. Still we all have different tastes and expectations.

Personally I found this a delightful film to participate in - yes nearly everything is 'telegraphed' and the mid-story turn points and ending are highly predictable.

It's a story simply told, well acted and directed. I would even go as far to say that you could watch this film in its native language with little or no knowledge of French and without using subtitles* and understand it all.

* The English translation is particularly good and uses common expression rather than the more formal in keeping with the original dialogue - thus it tends to be more European English than American English.

Like a lot of European films it is filmed as a snapshot of real life - at no time do you have to suspend your belief. The story is simply an amalgam of real documented events.

If you like films crafted as Art then this will probably appeal to you. Switch of the phone, put the kids to bed, open a bottle of red wine and chill-out.

The soundtrack is particularly good and cues the emotions and actions perfectly.

Watch the film to its real end. - Under the end credits.

This is a disturbing film both in its subject matter and in the way it

was filmed.

Clearly a difficult subject to cover without sensationalising events

and to that end David Jacobson did a good job on the screenplay

and script and stops just short of being truly pornographic (in the

wider sense of the word)

The direction, which at times tries to mimic that of David Lynch's

masterpiece Eraserhead, falls flat on its face and slows the pace

of the film to almost a dead stop.

The pace and the constant use of flashback just adds to the

confusion without really creating the tension the director was

looking for.

Good performances from Jeremy Renner, Artel Kayaru and Matt

Newton.

Film watchers hoping to see something like Hannibal or Henry are

going to be disappointed.

This is Not a Love Song.

My one word summary of this film would be `Excellent'.

It probably won't appeal to the mass movie watching public – it's a

film that forces you to participate. You observe, think, and question.

Comparisons could be made with Deliverance (Topic/Theme) and

perhaps with The Blair Witch Project for overall filming style.

However this film stands unique against both.

The cinematography effects (solarisation, freeze frame, blur etc)

have been seen before but they are used most effectively in this

film to underpin the natural tension of the story.

Acting is raw, menacing and utterly believable.

The real theme of the film is about friendship; the title really gives

the game away. It's probably not the kind of friendship that most of

us have experienced or indeed would want to.

It is a love song.