By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Boaz Yakin
Starring: Annie Rigney | Bobbi Jene Smith | ina Zinchenko | Isaias Santamaria | Mouna Soualem | Omri Drumlevich | Or Schraiber | Tyler Phillips
Country: france, united_states
Year: 2020
Running time: 116
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10373830/reference
Michael says: “This one was actually released in 2020, but I missed it for eligibility. I saw it reviewed on a friends Facebook page, and it sounded really intriguing, it had a pretty good rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a really positive review from our pal, Tom Meek. Sadly, I did not agree with much of the praise, although I did find it fairly interesting, and definitely structured like a musical, but with modern dance filling in for the songs. It also took a little bit of Patricia Rozema’s MOUTHPIECE to tell a story about gender identity by having the two main characters played by a male and female actor each, presenting one or the other (or sometimes both) depending on which side of their animus (soul – male or female) was in charge.
“Essentially a love story, that starts with an ocean between the two characters. Eden is a tightly-wound man living in NYC, and Aviva as free-spirited woman living in Paris. A mutual friend introduces them virtually, and through the magic of the internet, they fall passionately in love. Their first, tentative in-person meeting goes pretty well, and that leads to Aviva leaving her life in Paris and traveling to NYC. Unfortunately, what’s really happening is that they are each following their usual patterns, with Aviva allowing her relationship to consume her independence, and nearly her identity, and Eden feeling smothered by his partner. As the psychology becomes revealed, it seems that Eden’s male half and Aviva’s female half are less compatible, while Eden’s female half, and Aviva’s male half (coincidentally, the two choreographers of the film) are the ones that are truly soul mates. Unfortunately, there are also the less dominant personality. (Although it seems that Eden has never been able to give a woman an orgasm with his female half’s help.
“And speaking of orgasm’s, there’s lots and lots of sex (in all the permutations), and lots and lots of nudity. Perhaps because much of the cast is made up of dancers, and they all have great dancer’s bodies? For me it was pretty distracting and seemed unnecessary. Another problem was the uneven acting. By its very nature, the film features dancers who act (rather than actors who dance) and it shows. Eden’s male half, played by Tyler Phillips, is the weakest link, and he’s got one of the more complicated roles, so that’s unfortunate. Aviva’s dominant female side, played by Zina Zinchenko fares the best, and really embodies the character beautifully, both with her physicality and her spirit. It ends up being a lot of complex dancing and psychology to tell a pretty simple story, and for me, the means didn’t justify the ends.
“Writer/director Boaz Yakin, has done some indie films like FRESH, or A PRICE ABOVE RUBIES, but is best known for REMEMBER THE TITANS. It seems that this may have been a personal story for him. While inventive and artsy, with some great dance sequences and good ideas, in the end it just kind of annoyed me, and the story just wasn’t worth the effort. But to each their own… like I said, it got some great reviews! 2 1/2 cats“
