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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: It Was Always Me (2003)
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| Joseph Kapsberg |
 Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:13 pm |
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"IT WAS ALWAYS ME"
Review by Joseph Kapsberg
Starring: Farhad Khan, Elizabeth Doushku, Brendan Sexton
Directed by: Amit Vaidya
Written by: Amit Vaidya
Produced by: Steven Leal, Robert Shefield, Alex Maxwell, Keith Jacobs
Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
It Was Always Me is flat fare served up in the fanciest, most artistic
manner to ever hit independent cinema in recent times. From the wall
to wall music to the constant barrage of colors and lighting and cool
transitions, the film manages to retain the audience's interest
despite the flaccid storyline. The film centers on three very
similarly portrayed character, Marissa (performed justly by Doushku),
Karim (newfind Khan) and Dylan (a flawless albeit too brief
performance by Sexton) who all share the same fears, pressures and
thoughts processes but take very different paths, greatly in part due
to their relationships with one another. However, it is clear that
Dylan is the one struggling the most with his internal and external
deamons and the other two are left to pick up the pieces on his road
to self-destruction. How these two characters fail to save him before
his ultimate demise serves as the center point for the film.
The film takes the audience for a loop in the process. Marissa and
Karim are self-indulgent, fail to generate any real sympathy from the
audience and as a result, alienate us from what seems to have been the
intent of first-time director Amit Vaidya, to make us believe that we
all are just moments away from falling down the same path. It is here
where the film fails greatly. In order to subside its own agenda,
Vaidya uses every trick in the book to keep the audience entertained.
While we can't feel the emotions or understand the characters, we
somehow are engrossed into their lives. I felt cheated watching this
film much like I did watching Patch Adams several years back.
Emotions, sentiments and beliefs should be left for the audience to
take from the film, not spoon-fed during the experience. Vaidya takes
a clever approach but only partially succeeds.
The biggest strength for the film is the dialogue. Rarely have I
witnessed such realistic conversations on screen where it is almost as
though it improvised completely. It's a shame that despite the
brilliant writing, the story doesn't really hold it together. Vaidya
definitely has promise as a writer and a director. Perhaps here the
task was to great for the newcomer. I recommend the film but with
hesitation. I recommend the film for the glimpses of absolute
brilliance that are sprinkled across the film. Unfortunately, there
are too many glimpes of what could have been versus what we actually
see on screen.
It Was Always Me receives *** out of ***** (3 stars out of 5).
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X-RAMR-ID: 36028
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1207326
X-RT-TitleID: 10002891
X-RT-AuthorID: 9408
X-RT-RatingText: 3/5 |
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