Sundance

Saw HERE at Sundance. Jesus this film is awful. Sorry to say because I think Ben Foster is an amazingly talented actor. But talk about a film in need of editing. And characters I can care about. Not to mention the fact that the director has elected to insert extremely annoying interstitial segments of nonsensical film clips, out-of-focus shots, strange digital noise, shots of the actual slate starting out takes, rollouts for no apparent reason. Not only did these not add anything to the film, they made it even more difficult to watch.

And from a cinematography point of view, it seems that the director and DP were going for the haunting beauty of shots we all saw in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, but for whatever reason, the landscape featured in HERE just sits there, uninspired. I'm sure shortly someone will offer an alternative point of view, no doubt saying that these overly-long shots were meant to be a metaphor for the innate longing we all have as humans for connection to one another, the never-ending quest for true love in such strange and hard times, blah blah blah. That may be what the director intended, but unfortunately it didn't end up on the screen. I've never seen a film festival audience clear out so quickly after a screening, and it was at Eccles, which seats 1,270 people.

I would have preferred to have had a glowing review to offer, but I don't. Instead, I wish I could get those two hours of my life back to use for something else.