Anatomy of a Love Seen

Word plays always get an extra point with me ... kidding aside you might have scene it already. Now can filming a movie or just one "simple" scene be harrowing and draining as ... can be? Yes, it is not that you have an inkling how something might go. Especially with relationships developing (devolving) ... and also reshoots can be ... a pain.

Now actors who do a love scene together can fall in love with each other. Actually it is also quite funny when you see how the scene is shot and how not hot at all it is making it (which makes the end result even more amazing). If you expect titilating love scenes all around, you may have the wrong movie anyway. There is nudity and there is ... passion. But that is mostly because of missunderstood things between our two leads here.

If you can't stand the drama, you may not like what is happening on your screen - but it is really well made, even if it feels annoying at times. Life can be the way ... love even more so (complicated)

I had seen this movie advertised on Netflix many times but always gave it a pass due to the low IMDb rating (we all know how terrible movies with lesbians as the main characters can be). However, I was in a weird mood tonight and thought I'd take a chance. IT WAS GREAT. I didn't find it slow-paced, though I see others did. Also, I have worked on movie sets multiple times in the past. The tone they set was spot on, tongue-in-cheek. The actors were well cast and they played their parts beautifully. I have no idea why it is receiving bad reviews and low ratings. Like no idea. If you are wavering on seeing this movie, please do yourself a favor and watch it. I know I'll be watching it many times in the future.

What this film does have going for it is two very pretty female leads and a quite erotic love scene between them, which also both feature prominently on the cover. The film itself breezes through this in the first five minutes. Then there's a brief montage of relationship and the viewer gets dumped in the middle of *something* going on. What follows is a series of overacted confrontations between the girls in which they grimace and cry a lot and give the viewer extremely vague exposition. A little more context would have been nice, like who the characters are and why the viewer should care about them. All this is annoyingly intercut with shots of extras doing stuff, fragments of irrelevant dialogue - and bits of a subplot between two other characters that is completely redundant. The director (who also played the director in the film) seems to have self-importantly shoehorned herself into nearly every scene. These other bits then feel like mere padding, as if during pre-production it turned out that writing the real meat of the script, giving the characters context and some genuine conflict or tension, was really, really hard. I find that a shame because show business with its egocentric personas, its gossip and also prejudice should have provided a dramatic enough setting for an emotional story about a lesbian relationship between actresses. I've seen the film described as slow but I feel that word does not capture my feeling. There is slow and then there is drawn out. Room in Rome was slow but offered much more in terms of both eroticism and character focus. Mind you, making an 80 minute film feel drawn out is an achievement in itself. For a real relationship drama, lesbian or otherwise, you'll need to look elsewhere.

This film is a a witty undertaking of a subject, that could be easily viewed as trite, or an idealized fantasy of what might be, especially with two very attractive female leads as well as supporting cast(both genders). The character realizations could appear, as contrived, but their is a sense of honesty, and hopeful behavior that rings true to the two lead characters. Specifically referencing those of true intimacy of being alone in public sphere.

The film moves quickly, and provides a fanciful imagination of what love and love lost could look like between these two ladies, and delves into intimate, while quick similar to that in life, moments of what it feels like to have love, loose it, want to retain it, and maybe win again. Yes, there is something familiar about the plot, and the characters, what is refreshing is the execution, and understanding that it is a bit of a show.

Yes, the ending is a bit tidy, however the question that is effective is that of the audience. Is this real? or is this an ideal? Luckily, the films producers and directors provide a clean line of sure, but its really up to the viewer.

Earlier I read a review that basically warned viewers about this movie but since the Director was so kind as to personally message everyone who queried about the film on Youtube strands and the trailer was done so beautifully, I decided that it was worth the $5 and went ahead and watched it anyway. Now can I just say that this is not a 'typical' movie and if you are a plot based person who gets bored easy and needs the car chase or the lonely montage or any other Hollywood film tricks to fill your 90 minutes, you may not be prepared for this and may even have words as strong as the previous reviewer who claimed that it was slow and self indulgent. But if you can be open to seeing something very different and raw, it is really something unique and special. Realism to me often comes in a slightly art house package, with a slow narrative mimicking reality. You know. Those long look-out-of-the- window-of-a-train sequences or how the film sometimes gets taken over by silence. And somehow, even with a narrative, these films will so often lose me. However, this movie is clever in that it is absolute realism without the extended narrative, in fact, the whole film is set up within a short space of time, literally almost mimicking time itself which absolutely gripped me like I was living those moments with them. The four lead actresses were fantastic and the chemistry between Zoe and Mal was nothing short of Real. I can talk about how great the pace was or the shots but art isn't always meant to be picked apart by its roots. For me, seeing a film that is not dragged down by plot but puts all of its cards on letting a situation and a relationship run its course throughout a difficult day, a film thats core focus is to express just... love, is refreshing and honestly exciting. With this and Blue is The Warmest Colour... I am feeling pretty confident that particularly lesbian relationships are started to be represented well within the film industry. Despite that we were removed from so much of the context and history,I was so emotionally invested because it wasn't about exposition and it wasn't about knowing, it relied on feeling. That in-the-middle-of-a-complicated-break-up-and-now-I-don't-know-how- to-function feeling that leaves us completely vulnerable and if you've never had anything like that or never felt sick when you're around a person, like your body doesn't feel like its you anymore or you've never had a first fight or a last fight or a relationship ultimatum moment or you've never stopped yourself before you risk getting hurt, then maybe, just maybe you might be like meh, a film about love with no plot. Otherwise, this is a gem and you will not be sorry for putting money into this film. Commendation to the team!