Kelly + Victor (2012)

I saw this last night, and was impressed by the grittiness, good acting and directing. There seems to be a misguided notion in certain circles of British and European Indie film-making circles that a messed up tragedy is "higher art" than something which has a more positive outcome. Why, oh why would I actually WANT to see a movie which offers very little other than a display of lost individuals who make idiotic decisions? How does that enrich my life? Does it tell me that there are such moronic individuals on the planet, and if so, why would I want to waste my time watching a depressing movie, how does that help these actual people? It does not.So then again, why would one watch this drivel? Like Breaking The Waves, it is a pathetic romance of being messed up, which belongs in the rubbish heap of misguided notions, like the one that you have to be tortured to be a worthwhile artist.Give it a miss, go see something that is both gritty, intelligent as well as enlightened and uplifting. Why wouldn't you want that for yourself, I know I do.The movie gets 0/10 for plot and 8/10 for the good acting. Pity the film-maker was so obsessed with an obsolete notion.

Interesting, fairly original central plot, but there is a large degree of inevitability about the conclusion. The central relationship in the movie is reasonably interesting and not at all the average male-female relationship. However, this gives you a fair indication of how it is going to end. This, and some other scenes.This significantly reduces the impact of the final scene.The plot is also a bit unfocused. Too many sub-plots that go nowhere. Too much drifting at times. More time should have been spent on the main characters and their relationship, and less on secondary characters and events.Decent performances, however.

Welsh screenwriter and director Kieran Evans' feature film debut which he wrote, is an adaptation of a novel from 2002 by English author Niall Griffiths. It premiered in the Dare section at the 56th London Film Festival in 2012, was screened at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2013, was shot on locations in England and North Wales and is a UK-Ireland co-production which was produced by producer Jainine Marmot. It tells the story about a man named Victor who lives at a disused school in Anfield, Liverpool in England with three other men and who spends most of his time with his sister named Lizzie who lives in a house with her husband named Mikey and their son named Connor, and his friends named Craig and Baz. Whilst celebrating at a nightclub on his birthday, Victor meets a woman named Kelly on the dance floor and accompanies her to her apartment.Distinctly and precisely directed by Welsh filmmaker Kieran Evans, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated simultaneously and interchangeably from the two main characters' viewpoints, draws a necessarily unsentimental and psychologically poetic portrayal of a woman who socialises with a Dominatrix named Victoria, and who on a night in June whilst out dancing approaches and initiates contact with a person she takes a liking to. While notable for its variegated and atmospheric milieu depictions, reverent cinematography by cinematographer Piers McGrail, production design by production designer Anthea Nelson, costume design by costume designer Orla Smyth-Mill and use of sound, colors and light, this character-driven and narrative-driven story about the consequences of human cruelty and how it in some cases can express itself, where a Gemini woman and Taurus man who chooses to trust one another and unite in an act of love which exposes their true selves and creates an unspoken promise and invaluable fragments of hope which transforms them and their relation to life, and where excruciating deeds gradually becomes understandable though not condonable, depicts two mindfully internalized studies of character and contains a timely and prominent score by composer Steve Fanagan. This lingeringly atmospheric, mysteriously spiritual and poignantly and yearningly romantic indie love-story which is set during a summer in England in the 21st century and where an English dock worker in his late twenties is introduced through his new acquaintance to unfamiliar expressions which causes bilateral reactions and instigates the presence of death in him, and a self-employed female designer whom unwillingly joins a friend to meet a banker who takes strange pleasure from being humiliated and dominated, starts acting in reckless and hazardous ways, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, rhythmic continuity, efficiently abrupt film editing, contrasting perspectives, graceful interplay, scenes between Victor and Kelly, comment by a bartender at a pub : "Pick on someone your own size..." and the crucial and authentic acting performances by Northern Irish actress Antonia Campbell-Hughes and English actor Julian Morris. An importantly austere, densely cinematographic and humanizing character piece.

I did some research on the films that were screened at SXSW, but the details that describe Kelly + Victor do not prepare you for what is in store. The first thing that I found to be particularly odd was the light speed at which their relationship began. Kelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is this petite little thing who comes across innocently enough at first glimpse she could be the shy little girl next door. The story begins as she prepares to go out for the night and she encounters Victor (Julian Morris) in a night club and comes on to him completely unhindered by any coy social standards or order. This film wasted no time getting to the gratuitous sex and there was nothing shy or coy about the adult themes such as drug use, nudity and the nature of abuse. As Victor says in the film, it got intense. The most provocative theme of the story was the dynamics of abuse from sadomasochism to abusive relationships. It was an interesting backdrop to how everyone seemed to be meandering through their otherwise ordinary lives while all these other damaging factors invade. Many of the sequences in the story made me tilt my head as if that would make it easier to understand the conversation, much of which was indiscernible due to the heavy accents. Since much of the themes were difficult to appreciate it made relating to the characters difficult as well. I was sympathetic to Victor but that may be because I immediately recognized his portrayer Mr. Morris from one of my favorite guilty pleasures Pretty Little Liars. I was not a fan of what seemed like a hodge-podge of images thrown into the film as visual fillers, having seen a group of flittering gnats once in a film is enough more than that is just as I said earlier, filler. However, I did like the retrospective style of storytelling that detailed how an event or situation unfolded. If the intent of this story was to get people talking about some taboo topics then it was a success, since Catt and I talked about the impression it left on us for most of the evening after having viewed it. Kieran Evans the director was in attendance at the screening and was very happy and honored to have his film's US premiere take place at SXSW. I am glad to have experienced it, but am undecided about who I could refer it to if anyone.