Lyle (2014)

"Lyle" tells the story of a middle-aged lesbian couple that moves to a new apartment with their young daughter Lyle. When Lyle becomes the victim of a terrible accident, it soon becomes questionable if all just happened out of hazard or there's a more sinister plan behind it. Who can be trust anymore? The movie is of high production value for an independent film. I didn't feel so excited about the first half of the film but I have to say that the pace picked up and the tension started to rise in the second one. In my opinion, some of the mysteries could have been extended as they happen to come a bit out of the blue, the movie is rather short, so that wouldn't have been much of a problem. Nevertheless it is a film that keeps you guessing until the very end and at a certain point you can well adopt to the otherwise rather traumatized character.All in all this is one of the better independent movies within the genre. There is still some potential for improvement but especially the second half of the film is highly entertaining and will keep you caught in front of the screen.

First of all, this film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is basically unheard of and should tell you something. Also, if you read any of my reviews I live for indie horror films and I can be brutal in reviewing them but when I love something I get really excited. This is a movie to get excited about. Gaby Hoffman is so terrific and real and raw and crazy you can't take your eyes off of her. Is it like Rosemary's Baby? Sure, yes, but it's also different. And let's face it, every story is just a retelling of a story that came before it, and that's that. Nothing can be original anymore. But if they had done this film wrong, that would have been a shame. Instead this movie is wholly satisfying and entertaining.

...that's not enough to necessarily prompt a recommendation, if that makes any sense. Gaby "Field of Dreams" Hoffman, portrays her protagonist role with reasonable credibility, but truthfully she's still a pale shadow compared to obvious predecessors like Mia "Rosemary's Baby" Farrow and Lee "The Omen" Remick. The rest of the cast doesn't register terribly well, either, and I'll not comment further about that on the basis of discretion being the better part of criticism.No, as is almost always the case, "Lyle"'s problems boil down to the script, in this instance by its tyro director. The plot is little more than a secularized retelling of the above-mentioned films cloaked in a meaningless lesbian domesticity, involving characters so sparsely sketched as to be virtual ciphers, mere placeholders. In short, there's little to make us care about them, to draw us into Leah's increasingly paranoiac situation. We've seen all this before, and "Lyle" offers nothing new to entertain us, or frighten us, or illuminate us in any way. An extra twenty minutes of backstory and/or character development might have helped; I really don't know. Conversely, twenty minutes trimmed might have produced a tighter, tauter story with some genuine tension, tension that "Lyle" lacks almost completely.I have to look at this one as a vanity project, a learning exercise that never really shook off its developmental shackles and fully breathed, a premature birth, perhaps, in service to some greater, yet frustratingly ambiguous goal.Unless you're a fan of one of the actors or the production crew, "Lyle" is regrettably dispensable.

When a movie is offered free (and legally) online to stream, and is only an hour in length, it is usually worth a stab. I had previously seen the trailer, which was well put together and struck enough curiosity within me to jot down the date upon which it would become accessible online.So, what is it about? In short, this movie is about grief, and the effects that traumatic events can have on the mind. It begins with our main character Leah (Gaby Hoffman) and her girlfriend June (Ingrid Jungermann) being shown around an impressive New York apartment, with which they are clearly pleased. They have with them a toddler, and the witting building manager Karen (Rebecca Street) guesses that Leah is pregnant with another, a feat that Karen herself is openly trying to achieve.Leah and June seem happy with their new life in New York. June is busy at work and on the road to success, whilst Leah is at home with the toddler unpacking their lives into their new home. There is, however, an event that turns their lives around. Although it is openly available on the short Synopsis, I will refrain from mentioning the details. This event is portrayed in a very clever way, again which i refuse to disclose (although I will say that it is a very original idea, utilising modern communication methods).With this traumatic event, we see Leah's mind begin to unravel. She becomes suspicious of those around her, notably the building manager, and her paranoia gradually escalates into a final scene that is very well composed.However, despite the film's unusually short length, there are periods in which one wonders in which direction the film is going. This is countered, it should be noted, by a good score which retains the film's eeriness throughout these moments in which the film seems to be petering along without purpose. Another essential distraction from this flaw in the narrative is the acting of Hoffman, who at times seems very accomplished indeed. There are moments when she perhaps gets carried away with the high-emotion scenes, but nonetheless her performance is a mile apart from most of her supporting cast (notably poor are Michael Che and Kim Allen, who play a friend of the couple and a neighbour, respectively, and fail to really portray emotion at any time during the film. This is particularly so in Che's case, in the final scenes of the film).All in all, Lyle is an optimistic venture into the grief of the human mind, ultimately let down by its lack of direction and poor supporting acting. An interesting point for debate is whether writer/director Stewart Thorndike could have added ten or twenty more pages of screenplay, to try and flesh out some of the ideas throughout the movie which do not enjoy the focus that they deserve. Nonetheless, it was an adventurous film, and it hits home just well enough to make the viewer keep an eye on whether his new film will reach its Kickstarter target.