Jul 30, 2012

Earrings [2012]

You have no idea how surreal it is to write a post about a movie one of my (digital) friends, if I can call him that, made! I am very proud of Alex, not only because of the great film he made, but most of all because he had the passion, the ambition and the talent to do it and go all the way with it, and not be held back by fear of reviews or negativity or something else! I really hope his work will be successful and that it will catch someone's attention (by someone I mean producer, director or whoever has enough power to help him grow and achieve more on a bigger scale)

First of all, let me direct you to his page- there you will find the movie- Earrings- that you need to see before continuing! You can actually just see the movie, the rest of this post is only my opinion of it, and if I had to choose between the two, well, I'd choose the first!
http://www.andsoitbeginsfilms.com/2012/07/earrings-film.html

Second, let's talk a little about it! As you might expect, I loved it! You can easily observe, through this film, that his passion for movies has helped him create a great piece, inspired by many amazing filmmakers, and supported by his imagination and creativity.

I could write a full review, examining everything and being extra picky, but I won't. I just want to point out some of the things I really liked about it and one thing that I think he can improve:

I loved:
- the in&out focus and the often blurry frames of Chlo
- the powerful and loud sounds when there was no music: the birds singing, the water and so on.
- the fact that he almost always shot her from different angles and almost never from a clear, frontal point. That gave it more mystery, darkness and hidden meaning and messages that we, unintentionally, longed to discover
- the cinematography and his direction
- the dialogue (it seemed very real and the interpretation of the actors was very good, I was pleasantly surprised)
- the breaking down and the Radiohead song used- probably one of the best scenes in it and I loved how he built it around the song, making it ten times more powerful
- my favorite shot was of her legs and the blood running down in the shower, shot from up
- Catherine was fantastic, please tell her that again :) also, she is a very beautiful girl
- until the end, I kept asking myself, why is she always going to park? what's the meaning? Alex answered that for me in a very nice way; I like filmmakers who answer obvious questions and tie up loose ends.
- the fact that he had a special thank you for his digital family :) thank you Alex!

I only have one suggestion- take it or leave it, it's fine by me, it's just a thought. The first 7-8 minutes of the film were good, they built up to the actual story, but I feel like you (Alex) might lose a lot of viewers during these first scenes, just because there is not much dialogue, music or action. Some people might not have the patience to wait for something to happen! I hope you don't mind and maybe you can consider this for your future projects :)

So, that's all from my part! Final thoughts? See his movie and support all independent or small production you come across, especially if they come from friends, bloggers or film lovers- it's the only way to help talent grow and reach higher levels of success!

8 comments:

  1. Great review! You liked the movie much more than I did, but I msut say I was really impressed with the way it was shot, the cinematography was the true heroine of the movie for me and it was gorgeous.

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    1. Yes, it's a miracle what you can do with a digital camera like the one he used, it looked great!

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  2. Wow, Diana, thank you for this review. The digital family shout out was the least I could do to extend my gratitude to you. (You deserve specific thanks for encouraging me to get more sleep throughout the process haha. It is SO odd to get more than four hours of sleep a night now.)

    Completely understand your thoughts on the first 7-8 minutes. Fair analysis there.

    Thanks again for everything!

    (Oh and a bit of trivia: your favorite shot was actually of real blood. She accidentally slit her hand open on the glass, we washed it off, but before we bandaged it, she took that shower and just... let it bleed. We were kind of obsessed with realism haha.)

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    1. I was going to ask that, if the blood on her hands was real or not, it seemed real :)

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  3. Nice review. The cinematography, sound, performances, and direction were wonderful. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing of the film, but I can see how a lot of viewers would not stick with it.

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    1. Yes, especially those who are not big film fans or used to movies like this one! Thanks!

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  4. Lovely write-up Diana. I too enjoyed the film and Alex evidently has a lot of talent.

    I really liked the photography - the shifting focus, and the way we were quickly immersed into this characters headspace through the odd-angled close-ups. We weren't sure why she was acting the way she was, but we were intrigued to find out. I think the deliberate pacing added to this intrigue, but I see your point about the first 7-8 minutes. I loved the breakdown scene (very Shame-like) and the accompanying music and Catherine is stunning. What an acquisition. Really impressed.

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    1. Thanks Andy!I was impressed, too, like you said, by the cinematography- considering the equipment he used, it turned out very very good!

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