NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS // A FILM REVIEW OF "MERCURIALES"
The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 44th edition of New Directors/New Films is being presented in New York City from March 18 – March 29. For 44 years New Directors/New Films has been an annual rite of early spring in New York City, bringing exciting discoveries from around the world to adventurous moviegoers. All aspects of cinema, from production to exhibition, have changed dramatically over the years, but the spirit of innovation and the element of surprise that have always defined this festival remain intact. Dedicated to the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent, this year’s festival will screen 26 international feature films and 16 short films.
We here at TheArtsWire Weekly are bringing you our take on the films we're screening during the festival.
It takes quite an effort to make a film. Even to shoot a two-person five-minute scene with respectable production quality requires several people to come together: actors, lighting, sound, maybe someone to call “Action!” To make a feature-length film requires quite a bit more effort. What I'm finding it hard to process is how, with as much effort as is required, there are so many films that can't, with that much effort, still figure out how to tell a more cohesive and consistent story.
Director Virgil Vernier’s second feature film, Mercuriales, falls into this category. It obviously took quite a bit of time, organization, thought, casting, willingness, drive, discussion, location scouting, etc. to create this 108-minute film. It is nice looking, shot amongst some interesting backdrops in France, one particularly attractive church interior as well as architecturally intriguing residential high rises with bubblish windows. The acting is up to par, though nothing revolutionary. A young black girl who gets baby sat does especially well throughout and one scene with the two main girls in the bath is truly genuine and touching and amusing.
But beyond that, what is going on? It seems as though the director must've played hookie from middle school lit class the week we discussed basic dramatic structure or why we tell a story the way we do and how it works versus why what doesn't work doesn't work. Here's the thing, Director. Your movie doesn’t work. Not for me. And I have to ask does it work for the 200 or so people whose name appears on the end credits? Is it something they are proud of?
Let’s see: security guards at what could be a nuclear weapons facility but ends up just being a pair of office towers, I think; a whole slew of similar looking 20-something women wearing scoop neck dancer unitard tops; babysitting; young girls dancing for young boys; a witch in the woods beating on things; a brief PSA about violence; an argument between a girl at a party and a convert to Islam who calls her a whore; security guards at a grocery store; the Eiffel Tower hairdo; a bunch of weirdos in costumes playing in the mud and throwing flour on the ground to celebrate Spring; a full-on scene with IronMan in a sex club. These were all beginnings to their own story that may have had some middle but definitely no end. Yes, there are some subtle things that link some of these scenes together with others, but not all of them. It isn’t clear how most, a majority, of the scenes contribute to the objective of the film.
To give credit where it is due, the girls’ escape to the country brought some sweet relief from the nonsense, as their relationship blossomed around the fire and, as mentioned above, in the tub. There was also some very funny stuff about the boobs falling off, where is DHP, and big drag of the cigarette to blowout birthday candles.
But for the most part, this movie is rather disjointed and leaves the viewer wondering why Vernier spent as much time as he did making a movie that doesn’t tell a story, and wondering why they spent as much time as they did trying to follow a story that doesn’t really exist. One strange montage showed graphic shots of weapons and crime scenes and disasters and tragedies and had a voice over that kept repeating these words: "It's not real...it's just a dream. I'm asleep. It's a nightmare." By the end of the movie I was saying the same thing.
VERDICT: SKIP IT
WRITTEN BY Mariette Désert and Virgil Vernier DIRECTED BY Virgil Vernier STARRING Ana Neborac, Philippine Stindel, Jad Solesme
Playing as part of The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 44th New Directors/New Films Fest. For tickets: http://newdirectors.org/
FINAL THOUGHTS: The film basically closed with some neat footage of a demolition crane tearing apart a concrete building like a T-rex might devour and shred it's prey. I would have rather watched that for 97 minutes.
W. DEREK JORDEN is an actor currently living and working in New York City. He and his wife live on a Spaceship on the top of a building, which makes for some interesting dinner parties.