Film Review: Lying
October 28th 2009 23:56
The trailer to Lying by M. Blash is a dreamlike collage of gorgeous imagery set to hypnotic music. It cannot help but draw you in and intrigue you. Unfortunately, the film itself fails to do so. The concept is interesting: how well do we really know the friends we meet in adulthood? And what if it turns out one of those friends is a pathological liar? However, “friends” is overstating it. The girls in question are acquaintances at best. In fact, the entire synopsis to the film is misleading. There is never any mystery regarding the identity of the liar is, although the marketing for the film leads one to believe otherwise. These are unnecessary deceptions which don’t add to the films viewing whatsoever. The acting is difficult to assess, as the characters are snobbish and one-dimensional.
Apparently, there was no script for the film and thus much of the acting was improvisional. This lends further speculation as to the acting. Did they mean for these characters to be boring and uninteresting or can these actresses not perfect the art of improve? No depth is provided to anyone involved, nor an explanation as to why the liar, Megan (played by Chloe Sevigny and that’s not a spoiler, trust me), is lying. The Leelee Sobieski character (Sarah) is seen in fleeting moments until the last 15 minutes of the film, when her purpose is revealed. There is one interesting scene is between Sarah and Megan, which makes the audience long for a shift of focus to Sarah. By this time, of course, the film is almost over.
Aside from a few pretty shots, there was no purpose to the film. M. Blash’s attempt an artsy first film comes off as pretentious, meandering, and pedantic. Sadly, the end result is 94 minutes of ‘what was the point?’
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