A month or two ago I frequented an evening of films shown at the Worcester Arts Workshop (in Worcester in case you hadn't guessed) and this film was on of the ones shown (second in the billing if I remember rightly). The film seemed to go down okay with most of the viewers so I understand that I may be a minority in my views regarding it, and this should be taken into account when reading my little review of "Evelyn".
There are many film-makers that use ambiguity in their work but it has to be understood that there is a difference between ambiguity and vagueness. Ambiguity is such a state that multiple meanings can be extrapolated from the information given, whereas vagueness is simply not giving any information to begin with (though I admit this to be a simplified distinction).
The problem with Evelyn is that it is a film that doesn't seem to understand this distinction. It gives no information and relies to much on cinematography to fill its ten minutes or so of screen time. No characters are created and little story is hinted at, any story in fact is supplied by the viewer reading their own meanings into the work in an attempt to make the experience worthwhile.
This was quite telling in a short Q and A with the film-makers afterwards. A member of the audience asked for clarification on the meaning and being flatly refused any clarification under the rather peculiar reasoning that "it couldn't be spoken about in an open forum". This suggested to me (as well as those I went to the event with) that there was no real meaning behind the film, or that any meaning it did have wasn't worth sitting through the ten minutes of film anyway.
I realise this may seem rather harsh, and for this I apologise (there were far worse films on offer that day), and to redress the balance somewhat I have to admit that there was some very fine cinematography in this short film, but unfortunately little else.
If you get a chance to see Evelyn please do so, I may be completely wrong and its important that film-makers are supported and encouraged. Though it is also important that they are given honest and direct feedback on their films if they are ever likely to improve.
There are many film-makers that use ambiguity in their work but it has to be understood that there is a difference between ambiguity and vagueness. Ambiguity is such a state that multiple meanings can be extrapolated from the information given, whereas vagueness is simply not giving any information to begin with (though I admit this to be a simplified distinction).
The problem with Evelyn is that it is a film that doesn't seem to understand this distinction. It gives no information and relies to much on cinematography to fill its ten minutes or so of screen time. No characters are created and little story is hinted at, any story in fact is supplied by the viewer reading their own meanings into the work in an attempt to make the experience worthwhile.
This was quite telling in a short Q and A with the film-makers afterwards. A member of the audience asked for clarification on the meaning and being flatly refused any clarification under the rather peculiar reasoning that "it couldn't be spoken about in an open forum". This suggested to me (as well as those I went to the event with) that there was no real meaning behind the film, or that any meaning it did have wasn't worth sitting through the ten minutes of film anyway.
I realise this may seem rather harsh, and for this I apologise (there were far worse films on offer that day), and to redress the balance somewhat I have to admit that there was some very fine cinematography in this short film, but unfortunately little else.
If you get a chance to see Evelyn please do so, I may be completely wrong and its important that film-makers are supported and encouraged. Though it is also important that they are given honest and direct feedback on their films if they are ever likely to improve.
