EIFF2008: Helen

Conceived in a unique way, intended as a work of art and as a community project using non-professional actors, it's difficult to critique this film in the same way as many others. Then again, the fact that it's dull and badly acted make me wonder.

It's a beautiful film no doubt, but it annoyed me in the same way that Carlos Reygadas annoys me. I'm happy for a director to employ long takes, barely-moving cameras and so on - but it frustrates me to see the same behaviour from people. It doesn't work and it's not aided by a wooden cast delivering dialogue that didn't exactly sparkle to begin with. The whole film just ends up feeling false and directionless.

The story, about a girl who takes place in a crime scene reconstruction and starts to assume the missing girl's identity, seems to have been thrown together as the film progresses and unfortunately never feels like it is going anywhere.

I'd love to see the directors (Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor) given a proper script to work with as they seem like they could work some magic with the right material. Unfortunately if they're going to continue churning out stuff like this I'll not be queuing up to see it.