This article is part of NUFEC's ongoing coverage of the Independent Film Festival Boston 2015.
Loren’s teenage life consists of avoiding his many phobias (including heights and water), making his hyper-protective mother happy, and preparing for the arrival of a child with his expecting girlfriend. Set in the enigmatic Outer Banks of North Carolina’s coast and the site of the first attempted English settlement in the New World, colonization of all kinds, both of people and of land, is an ever-present theme, as is absence.
I had really high hopes for this film; teenage pregnancy alone is an interesting premise, and Loren’s girlfriend’s growing ambivalence seemed like a tough pill to swallow in the context. I was excited to see how it developed. Unfortunately, the premise felt overshadowed by the drive to create a film about colonization, which it didn’t exactly do either. Some of the dialogue was painfully heavy-handed, and while Loren was meant to come off as a confused but good-hearted guy he also felt incredibly rage-filled at times, which I’m positive was not the intent, and I’m worried wasn’t even noticed. The cinematography was basic, which is fine. I just wish they would’ve at least made simple choices that didn’t draw so much attention to their choices. There were three to four (very) slow pans from right to left, which not only felt unnecessary but were also incredibly frustrating; if a camera takes half the scene to make it on to the subject of the scene, the movement should have some meaning or some oomph at the end when the camera reaches the destination. Unfortunately, that was never the case and the movement felt like a substitute for a DP that fell through.
I really wanted to like this film, but the combination of frustrating camera choices and a wandering plot with many touched on but underdeveloped subplots was too much for this 84-min film to handle.
Grade: D
I had really high hopes for this film; teenage pregnancy alone is an interesting premise, and Loren’s girlfriend’s growing ambivalence seemed like a tough pill to swallow in the context. I was excited to see how it developed. Unfortunately, the premise felt overshadowed by the drive to create a film about colonization, which it didn’t exactly do either. Some of the dialogue was painfully heavy-handed, and while Loren was meant to come off as a confused but good-hearted guy he also felt incredibly rage-filled at times, which I’m positive was not the intent, and I’m worried wasn’t even noticed. The cinematography was basic, which is fine. I just wish they would’ve at least made simple choices that didn’t draw so much attention to their choices. There were three to four (very) slow pans from right to left, which not only felt unnecessary but were also incredibly frustrating; if a camera takes half the scene to make it on to the subject of the scene, the movement should have some meaning or some oomph at the end when the camera reaches the destination. Unfortunately, that was never the case and the movement felt like a substitute for a DP that fell through.
I really wanted to like this film, but the combination of frustrating camera choices and a wandering plot with many touched on but underdeveloped subplots was too much for this 84-min film to handle.
Grade: D
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