Earlier this year, I was pleasantly struck by the framing of another tense, claustrophobic, French movie, Oxygen, and since then I've been a lot more critical of how directors keep stories visually interesting in small spaces. Meander is lucky that it moves fast, because honestly there's nothing super unique about how it looks. That isn't something that I always notice in a film, but I think that claustrophobic movies like this one put camera skill right in the spotlight. ![]() I still felt the tension and urgency, but not really the consequences. Given she’s the only character having to go through these traps, there is a relative assumption of her success or else the movie would end. While I really enjoy a solid, solo character study in a movie, it didn’t serve the story in this situation for one super simple reason: it tells the viewer that she probably isn’t going to die. Second, Cube had the benefit of being about a group of people instead of an individual. I craved more explanation and satisfaction from it at the end. I think some people will really enjoy that, but I found it a little under-supported in the writing. Instead of going the straight-forward, game-ified route, Meander ushers in more ambiguous concepts that stretch (maybe change) the genre quite a bit. While still being born of the same genre and ideas, certain story elements throw the viewer for a total loop. Story-wise, I hate to keep comparing it to Cube, but this film has two main differences: First, it lacks the simplicity of Cube and other movies like this. ![]() Somehow she made me like her, despite not speaking all that much. I think the actress, though not given much character depth to work with, still manages to make a very visual script lend sympathy and appropriate tension to the main character and her struggles. I love the constant tension that it builds and the muttering of "move, bitch" that I inevitably start under my breath mid-movie. I enjoy these kind of claustrophobic, murder-puzzle movies more than is probably logical, so it started out with a favorable bias. As fun as that rhyme is, and it was totally worth it, the movie is actually a little less simple than that in Meander.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |