Love, Celeste

Love, Celeste Making 12 films in 12 months is an insane effort. Insane not just in the sense that only a lunatic would attempt it, but insane because it burns something inside you. Love, Celeste isn't a bad film, but it's definitely a tired one-the first in the series to openly declare the exhaustion of shooting, thinking, and creating. That's not to say it lacks bright ideas or standout moments: the deserted city, the actual desert, the clever use of subtitles, the link between the end of a love story and the end of the world, a solid finale... But in this case, the whole is less than the sum of its parts, and even within that sum, too many elements feel undercooked or not fully realized. The biggest issue is the acting, which often takes a backseat to the staging, forcing the performers to go through a scene rather than inhabit it. And sure, if you only watch dubbed films, this might fly over your head-but trust me, the difference is massive. It's the difference between saying you believe and actually believing.

This is a bit on the slower side. It tries to be introspective and contemplative, and sometimes it works, but other times it feels a bit cliché. Daniel has a natural ease to him that allows him to ground the film quite a bit. Joel and Zaid's characters are a bit more stilted and keeps everything at a certain distance, which unfortunately leaves a lot of dynamic interaction off the table. The closest we get to that is the handheld whiteboard scene which plays with tempo, and timing in a way they never did with actual dialogue.

It's got a decent amount of locations, though it's centered in the same apartment. It does feel however that a decent amount of the scenes were kind of "3 guys walking, and mildly complaining to each other", which is fine, but that only lasts for a while before it gets a bit repetitive. The cinematography is some of the more interesting in a Joel Haver film. It does feel a bit limited still, but I think that all comes down to setting up a camera with a steady shot, and then shooting it as you're acting the scene yourself. When doing that, you lose some of the dynamics you could have otherwise had. The more interesting shots were when the camera was moving with purpose. Just having the camera move can add so much to a film, and I think this would have benefitted from having more camera movement.

When it comes to the script and acting out the scenes, I wish that would have gotten some more love. Because while the acting is decent, it's the same concept of slightly stilted characters talking and moving as such around each other, with a decent amount of precauriousness throughout the whole thing even as they get more emotionally bare with each other. What I miss is more playfulness in the body language, and more of a choreography and dance happening between the characters. I think if I felt like the characters had their own unique voice coming through them that would help a lot as well. The way it is now, it's all competent acting, but it's safe and comfortble which isn't very exciting.