Posthumous

I decided to watch this film immediately I saw that Brit Marling acts in it, and certainly, I wasn't disappointed. In this movie the breathtaking beauty of this actress can be tested again, as it was in "Another Earth" or in "The East". And it's not only her gorgeous face what captivated my sight, also her performance took me into the deepest emotional side of my mind, not for crying, of course, but honestly, in every time I've seen her acting, I felt in love of her character. This film lets the viewer not only to have a nice romantic moment, such as anyone can get in any classical movie from Hollywood. Instead, its value is due to the topics that are treated on it; to be with someone that loves you is not enough, he or she has to be your biggest fan. To have someone to be with is amazing, but also its desirable if that person makes you explore your most creative parts of yourself. What would anyone prefer, happiness or greatness? If the most recognized artists' lives are read, you can find out that they weren't happy.

A disgruntled, unsuccessful artist named Liam Price half-destroys his own artwork one night in the basement of an art showroom, after seeing that a set of works by a lesser artist has been put on display instead of his own pieces. Liam walks home drunk, falls asleep in a tunnel, and his things are stolen by a look-alike hobo who then dies that night. Liam is presumed to be dead.

You can see where this is going. "Posthumous" is a predictable but cute movie, sort of like "Rocky" meets "Lust for Life." It has very little substance, but the actors are clearly enjoying themselves, and it is refreshing to see a movie that at least attempts to say something about art without brooding and displaying abject suffering for ninety minutes nonstop.

I say "attempts," because I think that in the long run the movie has nearly nothing to say about art. It is about a man who likes to express himself in art but is not sure if anyone is listening. He meets McKenzie Grain, a lovely and intelligent journalist (played by the wonderful Brit Marling), and finds that she is fascinated by the "dead" Liam's artwork; and so Liam poses as his own brother, telling journalist about himself and trying to describe how important it is to be true to oneself. He sees through her misplaced ambitions about being a reporter; and she begins to see through his supposed indifference to the world.

This movie takes place in Berlin; but I did not get a strong sense of setting. One of the first ideas put forth in this movie is an environmental issue, that of "the bees." Bees are dying, and this is a bad thing because we depend upon bees to pollinate our food supply. This is brought up perhaps one more time in the entire movie. What is the relevance? Is Liam trying to illustrate to us, through his art, that we need to allow things to "pollinate" our world? That we must accept and embrace the little things in life, so that we can grow and prosper? This is a movie about being in the right place at the right time, and being able to accept the struggle and bleakness and death around you, because those terrible things are what make us who we are. I think the art of this movie could have played a larger role to display that idea; but the relationship of Liam and McKenzie manages to illustrate that premise in a way that is charming and touching.

Told within the setting of the subculture of the art world, this film uses the standard RomCom formula to unfold its story. All the elements of that well-defined genre are present in this film -- the only deviation from the normal course of development is the way the preexisting relationship ends.

This would have been a great, entertaining film if it where not for the fact that it was an entirely white cast. No black characters at all. Not one. Just a few seconds (literally seconds) of black background extras and most of them were partially obscured. If this were the 1950's that might be expected, but in the 21st century it's an inexcusable racial bias that totally ruined this film.

The film opens with the protagonist doing voice-over talking about bee colony collapse syndrome. Although the subject is referred to later on with respect to the male lead's art, I have no idea what bee colony collapse has to do with this film. It's obviously some kind of metaphor but I have no idea what it means -- perhaps something to do with the birds and the bees? In any case it was not made clear in the film, at least not to me.

One noticeable aspect about the relationship between the protagonists was how subtly manipulative they were. Both of them were deceitful towards each other, pretending to be something they weren't or pretending not to know what they did know in order to get what they wanted -- and each of them used subtle extortion to hook the other into the new relationship. And as these two were pulling each other's chain, a subplot about the underhanded development of the guy's art career was unfolding. I suppose it's fitting that the story is set in the art world, possibly the most pretentious subculture on the planet (second only to film critics, of course!).

Technically, the film was very good. The cinematography was great, the score was excellent, and the acting was pretty good. The dialogue was not as simple-minded as you find in a typical RomCom, and character/plot development was relatively smooth. The humor was not a laugh-out-loud type of humor, but more of a witty, entertaining type of humor. But that racial bias in the cast -- that really sunk the film. I would have given it a rating of 8, but because of the racial bias, it gets a 6.

Advisory: textual content ~180 wpm, racial bias in the composition of the cast.

Rating: 6/10, (submitted July 28, 2020, 9:30 p.m. EDT)

Ok, it's a romantic comedy and we shouldn't expect much of it. But, come on, there are so many clichés and it is so far from real life that it is difficult to follow this. There are some good sentences and Huston and Marlin are good actors. But the whole thing is completely dischargable.

You know all those little and not so little questions we all have? About life, and art, and existence, and happiness, and meaning and meaningless, and whether sometimes is worth it, and what it would entail for you to sacrifice in order to obtain that which is important? And then, how important is it anyway? This is a movie about that. All of that. I know nothing about cinematography and it's techniques, about the takes and angles, and movements and captures. I am just a viewer, a random bystander and I'm reviewing this tittle as such. It is in one word beautiful.

It captured my attention, evoked my thoughts and feelings, made me root for these characters, hoping for the best. It has such an interesting premise of what happens after we die. Does our name echoes after we perish? Did we accomplished anything extraordinary, worth mentioning and worshiping? It's about art, and it's meaning and creativity. It's about love and understanding. It's a way of understanding life and one's wishes and desires in a slightly philosophical way I'm a sucker for.

I loved that artistic approach, I loved the music, I loved how atmospheric the movie is, and I loved its quirkiness and sort of lightness.

I've yet to watch Brit Marling's movie I don't like, and Jack Huston is such a perfect choice, it seems, for those artistic weirdos, both in this movie and as Jack Kerouac in "Kill Your Darlings". Brilliant.