UK Shorts II - Relationships: The Eternal Riddle reviews
Review by on 26 Sep 2010
This second selection of UK Shorts explored the ups and downs of relationships, their beginnings but more often their endings, and a variety of relationships including new lovers, the long-married, sex traffickers, and strangers on the streets of Camden.
The first couple of films were honest and personal, yet overly long and indulgent. I was worried we would be sitting through 90 minutes of poorly-acted television melodrama segments, but the session improved and there were a few gems.
WHORE (dir. Fyzal Boulifa) gave a portrait of a teenage couple’s relationship which takes a sadomasochistic turn. It has an excellent script and performances by the young actors, and the look and feel of an Andrea Arnold film. The UK Film Council made another good investment in supporting ECHOES (dir. Rob Brown), which tells the story of a sex trafficker whose moral conscience is triggered by news of her captive’s pregnancy.
SCENT (dir. Darren Bolton) featured a moving performance by David Barnaby as John, in a touching story about a widower’s denial and grief. Like SARAH (dir. Ashar Aftab), the film was visually stunning but overly long. At the other end of the spectrum was I’D RATHER HAVE A MEMORY THAN A DREAM (dir. Matt Strachan), a richly dense split-screen film about the blurred line between memories and dreams, which was over in the blink of an eye and deserves repeat viewing.
Claire Henry
The first couple of films were honest and personal, yet overly long and indulgent. I was worried we would be sitting through 90 minutes of poorly-acted television melodrama segments, but the session improved and there were a few gems.
WHORE (dir. Fyzal Boulifa) gave a portrait of a teenage couple’s relationship which takes a sadomasochistic turn. It has an excellent script and performances by the young actors, and the look and feel of an Andrea Arnold film. The UK Film Council made another good investment in supporting ECHOES (dir. Rob Brown), which tells the story of a sex trafficker whose moral conscience is triggered by news of her captive’s pregnancy.
SCENT (dir. Darren Bolton) featured a moving performance by David Barnaby as John, in a touching story about a widower’s denial and grief. Like SARAH (dir. Ashar Aftab), the film was visually stunning but overly long. At the other end of the spectrum was I’D RATHER HAVE A MEMORY THAN A DREAM (dir. Matt Strachan), a richly dense split-screen film about the blurred line between memories and dreams, which was over in the blink of an eye and deserves repeat viewing.
Claire Henry
Film details
UK Shorts II - Relationships: The Eternal Riddle
SHORTS
UK, 2009.
74 mins. English
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