Neverlost

My flatmate rented this movie and we all sat down to watch it as the premise seemed interesting and for about the first ten minutes we were quite into it, it had a kinda dark sarcastic tone and actually served well to get things started and then it all fell apart.

The sarcastic tone was accidental and was there cause the acting was bad(and only got worse later, like soft core porn levels) the pacing was terrible and there was no real character development, we were just to accept that these massive leaps happened with no real reason and then there's the absolutely ridiculous "twist" which was amazingly clichéd and very poorly implemented.

To top it all off the sound direction was terrible and continuity was shocking also, in a lot of scenes characters sound like they are on a stage and are just hard to hear and details like a mark on a jumper would vanish and come back all the time.

Basically, we got a couple laughs but felt this movie was not worth the time at all, avoid it.

I saw Neverlost at its second showing at the Montreal Fantasia festival in July 2010. It was a work in progress with mostly sound issues needing to be worked out. I won't dock points because of that although it was a bit distracting. Neverlost starts rather humorously with the main character talking directly to the camera while in bed with a snoring woman. I'm not very fond of this type of narration but it worked OK and gave us an idea of his current mindset. Actually, it's the type of film that starts somewhat funny but gets more dramatic and darker as it goes along. It's about a man living a pretty miserable life in a run-down apartment with a despicable and egotistical wife. On top of that he has severe insomnia problems. The little he manages to sleep, he starts dreaming about another life with a sweet kind-hearted blonde woman, a love that he wishes he had never lost.

I found the script rather engrossing with very interesting mysterious and romantic elements. I was never lost in the plot and figuring things out as they unfolded was part of my enjoyment. I quite loved the aspect of the "dream reality" being way more appealing than "normal reality". Shades of Brazil there although one should not expect much special effects (very good blur effects to show transitions between mental states though) and amazing dream worlds (it's mostly in a normal yet luminous bedroom and kitchen). Requiem for a Dream and David Lynch films seemed to be influences also. I also liked the fact that the nature of the lives turned more and more ambiguous as time passed making us question what is what. The main actor was fine although I had my doubts at first because of his expressionless staring. The brunette wife was very good in making us dislike her although a little more depth in her personality would have been appreciated (as in not always bad). The idealized blonde woman was OK but somewhat a notch below the others in terms of acting and presence. I was impressed with the quality of the soundtrack, mostly original instrumental that set the moods rather well. Overall, Neverlost goes beyond its low budget to provide an intriguing, clever and sometimes touching supernatural romantic drama. Well worth watching.

Rating : 7.5 out of 10 (very good)

I attended the sold out World Premiere showing of Neverlost at this year's (2010) Fantasia International Film Festival - feels pretty neat to be able to say I was one of the very first people to see a film ; anyway, I'm derailing myself here...

For a film with a small budget, coming out of Guelph, Canada - I must say I was very surprised by Neverlost. Picture quality was great and for the most part, so was the acting. The story was interesting with a couple of slower moments... the audio though had not yet been fully mastered at the time of viewing (as per the director himself, who was on hand with cast and crew for a Q&A following the film) but the only real issue with the sound was that some things were a lot louder than they should have been (which will be fixed by the time it hits cinemas/DVD I'm sure) The basic story is of a man who's love life has been dragged through the bushes backwards and is now the source of his insomnia. Married but still pinning for the "one that got away", the film quickly moves into bizare territory that leaves it's audience split by two story arcs and unsure which ones is real and which is dream. As the story unfolds, more and more plot is tied together and twisted up again... although it is fairly predictable in parts.

It's really nice to see such good films coming out of Canada!

This film is a good example of the better end of low-budget indie films. Largely character-driven, a gritty tragic romance/thriller which manages to avoid most of the clichés of the genre. Production values are fairly good; although the sound quality isn't quite up to Hollywood standards, the visuals hold their own. Worth the time to watch.

A nice surprise is that this film seems to show the director has talent in genres outside the slasher/horror direction of much of his other work. He also clearly cares about getting a script fully completed and solid before trying to put it on film, so you don't get a sense of rushed or weak writing.

This film is currently on Canadian tour with the writer/director (and sometimes some of the actors) rather than via a distributor, and appearing in some film festivals, so you may get a chance to see it locally. If so, I suggest you do, as you'll probably get the chance to discuss it with the writer/director afterwards.

The script was intriguing, well written and kept my interest. Acting was ok for a low budget film, a couple of weak moments but forgiven as story as a whole was strong. Make up was very poor for the cut throat scene which is a shame as looked good at other times. (General injury etc)

Well worth a watch. Better written than a lot of bigger budget films. The writer and director would be people to watch and perhaps given bigger budget will become very successful.