I had the opportunity to see this film premiere at Sundance and really enjoyed the movie from start to finish.
The high points of the movie were the pacing and originality of the story as well as the character disassociation that takes place at the height of the plot. The disassociation seemed really original and I wish it was played up even more!
I docked a star or two for a couple of reasons (I'm new to film and cinema history so excuse any criticisms that I have which are related to stylistic choices). One thing that I found unnecessary was the driving home of 80's references - every time a period reference became a focal point, I found myself looking for physical objects that would be contradictory. Second, I found that Vivian's character could have been written better in the first half of the movie. Her initial interactions with Marian seemed improvised and unusual given the time the sisters had been apart, at least unusual without much context. Lastly, and this may be purely stylistic, but the subjects were sometimes precisely center-camera, in a way that drew my eyes from the subjects and to their setting (particularly in the house).
Overall I thought this was a great debut by Vassilopoulos - I'm excited to follow her work and see how her career evolves from Superior.
The high points of the movie were the pacing and originality of the story as well as the character disassociation that takes place at the height of the plot. The disassociation seemed really original and I wish it was played up even more!
I docked a star or two for a couple of reasons (I'm new to film and cinema history so excuse any criticisms that I have which are related to stylistic choices). One thing that I found unnecessary was the driving home of 80's references - every time a period reference became a focal point, I found myself looking for physical objects that would be contradictory. Second, I found that Vivian's character could have been written better in the first half of the movie. Her initial interactions with Marian seemed improvised and unusual given the time the sisters had been apart, at least unusual without much context. Lastly, and this may be purely stylistic, but the subjects were sometimes precisely center-camera, in a way that drew my eyes from the subjects and to their setting (particularly in the house).
Overall I thought this was a great debut by Vassilopoulos - I'm excited to follow her work and see how her career evolves from Superior.