ASSIGNMENT M4 LA 4
1.
Compare these reviews carefully then find the
similarities and differences between these two different reviews of the same
movie
Review Type 1
|
Nicola: A Touching Story
(2018) review
|
Suffering from a rare condition, Nicola is forced to
face her fears when her home is invaded in the short film Nicola: A Touching
Story from director Dev Seth.
 |
Newly-weds Leon and Nicola move into their new
home and to celebrate Leon invites his friends Ryan and Nadya to
dinner. Soon the visitors notice that Nicola has some serious behavior issues and
they all comes to a head the next day when Nicola is left alone to fend for
herself when an intruder enters the family home.
Haphephobia is an unusual anxiety disorder,
characterized by an intense fear of being touched. It’s fair to say that many
people find the idea of being touched by strangers or being touched without
consent quite uncomfortable anyway.
Usually, this disorder is the result of experiencing
or witnessing a traumatic event that involved being touched in some way. The
individual who suffers from it may not remember the exact event
that triggered the phobia, particularly if they were very young at the
time, but they can still come across as extremely difficult to strangers
and loved ones who do not understand the illness. Thankfully there are a
number of techniques used by psychologists and Doctors in order to
successfully treat the problem. Haphephobia was certainly a disorder I was
unaware of, that is, until I saw writer/director Dev
Seth’s fifteen-minute debut film Nicola: A Touching Story in which
the illness plays a huge part.
Opening with a number of atmospheric edits of
cityscapes, drone shots, and the British suburbs, we are left in no doubt
something just isn’t quite right. Is the film a thriller or a drama?
Seth’s flashy editing techniques during the opening salvo
kept us guessing.
A young couple, Leon and Nicola, have been having
dinner with friends to celebrate their nuptials and their new home when, as
the guests are leaving, the realise Nicola is hiding upstairs
in the bedroom. After being gently coaxed down by her husband Leon, Nicola
says her goodbyes but then goes on to react quite violently to being hugged
by their mutual friend.
|
 |
As Leon leaves for work, Nicola is left on her own
when, at the door, a stranger knocks. He convinces Nicola that he has come to
fix the boiler, however, neither Nicola or Leon have arranged this and our
intruder precedes to terrorise Nicola for the remainder of the film. Sam
Dunning is extremely menacing in this role; switching from chirpy cockney to
tormentor in chief in an instant. It’s a strong performance and one I would
have loved to have seen more of.
Considering the small and limited locations of the
film, cinematographer James Martini manages to do a fine job of creating a
sense of confusion and space with some of his shot choices. Meanwhile, the
soundtrack composed by Stewart Dugdale remained consistently
haunting throughout.
If I had one major gripe it would be being left a
little bamboozled by Seth’s choice to use subtitles? The film is in
English but with English subtitles. I would like to think they were used for
people who are hard of hearing. Unfortunately, the cynic in me thinks
they were put in to disguise the less than stellar sound production in the
first few scenes.
Overall Nicola: A Touching Story is an unusual but
decent film focusing on an aberrantillness and because of the
educational value alone, I am happy to recommend it. It is a fine debut film
from Dev Seth who has the talent to go on and make many more interesting
projects and I will look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.
|
Review Type 2
|
|
April 15, 2018
UK Film Review
|
|
Written and
Directed by Dev Seth
Starring Peter
Svatik, Amelia Eve, Sam Dunning, Ryan Graham, Nadezda Maksimenko
Short Film Review by Hannah Sayer
|
|
NICOLA - A Touching Story short film
Is true love accepting someone for who they are or trying to help them
by pushing them out of their comfort zone? This is the lasting question which
Dev Seth’s debut short film NICOLA – A Touching Story asks
the viewer to consider.
The short film takes place in the home of newly married couple Leon
(Peter Svatik) and Nicola (Amelia Eve). Leon has invited his friends Ryan
(Ryan Graham) and Nadya (Nadezda Maksimenko) to their new home and the film
opens with the three friends getting along well, happy and enjoying their
evening. However while they’re all having a good time, Nicola is in
another part of the house alone.
|
|
As Ryan and Nadya are leaving they wait to say goodbye to Nicola who
returns acting fidgety, anxious and
avoiding eye contact with the couple. Ryan
goes to hug Nicola, thinking that this is the right course of action when
interacting with someone who is upset, but she pushes him away and runs off.
This causes Ryan and Nadya’s suspicions to increase as they are very
concerned by Nicola’s strange and unexplained behaviour. A few days after
this intense evening a conversation between Nicola and Leon reveals to the
viewer that Nicola is in fact suffering from a rare phobia called haphephobia.
Haphephobia is the fear of touching or being touched and the short
film highlights the impacts this phobia is having on Nicola’s life,
especially on her relationship with Leon. After this conversation between the
couple, Nicola is alone at home when an intruder Michael (Sam Dunning) who
pretends to be there to look at their boiler enters her home and begins
terrorising her. What follows is a tense encounter which climaxes with a
revelation about the root of Nicola’s trauma and a breakthrough.
The confined setting of the house adds to the intensity in the second
half of the film as the home invasion takes place. The use of blurry shots
can be disorientating for the viewer and the cinematography often reinforces
Nicola’s state of mind, especially when used in this way during flashbacks to
the traumatic event. The use of slow motion adds to this intensity when
touching is taking place to reinforce the fear this brings to Nicola. The
shooting style and aesthetic of the short is realistic yet the haunting music
juxtaposes this. The music adds to the eerie atmosphere from the outset and makes
the viewer question what is really wrong with Nicola when the short film has
not gone into detail about her battle with haphephobia. By not disclosing
Nicola’s condition to the viewer during her initial interaction with Leon’s
guests, their suspicions and the uncertainty as to what is going on
successfully reinforces this sinister and tense atmosphere from the outset.
Overall, NICOLA
– A Touching Story is a well-acted and intriguing short film
which explores an important subject within an intense and gripping story.
|
|
Aspect
|
Review 1
|
Review 2
|
Similarities
|
Haphephobia
is an unusual anxiety disorder, characterized by an intense fear of being
touched. It’s fair to say that many people find the idea of being touched by
strangers or being touched without consent quite uncomfortable anyway.
Usually,
this disorder is the result of experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event
that involved being touched in some way. The individual who suffers from it
may not remember the exact event that triggered the phobia, particularly if
they were very young at the time, but they can still come across as extremely
difficult to strangers and loved ones who do not understand the illness.
Thankfully there are a number of techniques used by psychologists and Doctors
in order to successfully treat the problem. Haphephobia was certainly a
disorder I was unaware of, that is, until I saw writer/director Dev Seth’s
fifteen-minute debut film Nicola: A Touching Story in which the illness plays
a huge part.
Opening
with a number of atmospheric edits of cityscapes, drone shots, and the British
suburbs, we are left in no doubt something just isn’t quite right. Is the
film a thriller or a drama? Seth’s flashy editing techniques during the
opening salvo kept us guessing.
A
young couple, Leon and Nicola, have been having dinner with friends to celebrate
their nuptials and their new home when, as the guests are leaving, the
realise Nicola ishiding upstairs in the bedroom. After being gently coaxed
down by her husband Leon, Nicola says her goodbyes but then goes on to react
quite violently to being hugged by their mutual friend.
It’s
an important moment that is the catalyst for the rest of the film and it
needs to be sold. Thankfully, Amelia Eve (playing the suffering Nicola) is up
for the challenge. She sells the moment brilliantly and, from then on, we
totally believe that her troubles are very real indeed. She is helped by
Peter Svatik who plays her husband Leon. Svatik is a dashing, impressive
presence who manages to anchor the emotional weight of the film. He is
certainly up to no good when he makes his cheeky mobile phone calls but he
also certainly loves his wife. Svatik manages to portray the character, who
has a secret, both caring and seedy with aplomb and our loyalties to him are
tested throughout the film.
As
Leon leaves for work, Nicola is left on her own when, at the door, a stranger
knocks. He convinces Nicola that he has come to fix the boiler, however,
neither Nicola or Leon have arranged this and our intruder precedes to
terrorise Nicola for the remainder of the film. Sam Dunning is extremely
menacing in this role; switching from chirpy cockney to tormentor in chief in
an instant. It’s a strong performance and one I would have loved to have seen
more of.
Considering the small and limited locations
of the film, cinematographer James Martini manages to do a fine job of
creating a sense of confusion and space with some of his shot choices.
Meanwhile, the soundtrack composed by Stewart Dugdale remained consistently
haunting throughout.
|
The
short film takes place in the home of newly married couple Leon (Peter
Svatik) and Nicola (Amelia Eve). Leon has invited his friends Ryan (Ryan
Graham) and Nadya (Nadezda Maksimenko) to their new home and the film opens
with the three friends getting along well, happy and enjoying their evening.
However while they’re all having a good time, Nicola is in another part of
the house alone. As Ryan and Nadya are leaving they wait to say goodbye to
Nicola who returns acting fidgety, anxious and avoiding eye contact with the
couple. Ryan goes to hug Nicola, thinking that this is the right course of
action when interacting with someone who is upset, but she pushes him away
and runs off. This causes Ryan and Nadya’s suspicions to increase as they are
very concerned by Nicola’s strange and unexplained behaviour. A few days
after this intense evening a conversation between Nicola and Leon reveals to
the viewer that Nicola is in fact suffering from a rare phobia called
haphephobia.
Haphephobia
is the fear of touching or being touched and the short film highlights the
impacts this phobia is having on Nicola’s life, especially on her
relationship with Leon. After this conversation between the couple, Nicola is
alone at home when an intruder Michael (Sam Dunning) who pretends to be there
to look at their boiler enters her home and begins terrorising her. What
follows is a tense encounter which climaxes with a revelation about the root
of Nicola’s trauma and a breakthrough.
|
Differences
|
Overall
Nicola: A Touching Story is an unusual but decent film focusing on an aberrantillness
and because of the educational value alone, I am happy to recommend it. It is
a fine debut film from Dev Seth who has the talent to go on and make many
more interesting projects and I will look forward to seeing what he comes up
with next.
|
Overall,
NICOLA – A Touching Story is a well-acted and intriguing short film which
explores an important subject within an intense and gripping story.
|
Read This Review and write your analysis on Social
function, generic structure and language features about the review. Complete
the table below!
Alzhaimour
|
It's not often that the word romantic can be used when viewing a film
dealing with the subject of Alzheimer's, but such is the case with Belgian
director Pierre van de Kerckhove's no-budget 15-minute short film Alzhaimour, an
endearing and warm-hearted short currently experience tremendous success on
the film festival circuit.
Once you've seen the film, you
won't be surprised.
Alzhaimour stars Brigitte Louveaux as Louise, a 68-year-old woman living in a
nursing home with Alzheimer's Disease, her only human contact being fellow
residents, kindly staff and the occasional visit from her otherwise
distracted son, Daniel.
Then, Leo
arrives.
Played by
Yves Jadoul, the 82-year-old Leo arrives at the nursing home with a dash of
Errol Flynn inter-mixed with his equally challenging diagnosis of
Alzheimer's. For Louise, however, Leo sparks something special inside and
about the time Daniel arrives for a visit he ends up getting much more than
he ever bargained for.
Winner of at
least 26 awards during its first 3 months on the film festival circuit, Alzhaimour is
an intelligent and inspired love story, a sweet and sentimental little short
film that will hold your interest from beginning to end and likely have you
dancing in your own seat thanks to the energized, electrified musical
accompaniment.
While films
about Alzheimer's are often viewed through the lens of tragedy, Alzhaimour is
actually about two people who have Alzheimer's and it's definitely a love
story.
The film
benefits from two terrific performances from its co-leads. Brigitte Louveaux
is a quiet, understated joy as Louise, a woman who seems to soak up every
ounce of love and affection she can find and whose entire physical being
changes when Leo begins to pay her more than a little attention.
Yves Jadoul,
whom the director noted had recently passed away, leaves behind a legacy that
is quite beautiful and a performance here that is spry, fun, lively and
immensely loving. Alzhaimour is a refreshingly human look
at a disease that can so often be dehumanizing. This film is a joy.
© Written by Richard PropesThe Independent Critic |
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