Minority Vote

"Earrings" is an example of a promising failure, when a director shoots for the stars and doesn't quite make it. He has a good idea and a strong leading actress, but the premise and the lead are not enough and the film falls under it's own, aspirational weight.

Just to let you know, I don't feel great writing this review. The director, Alex Winthrow, is a friend of my mother's, and this is his second short film. He spent a year on it and employed a talented and underused actress, Catherine Warner. Warner, who looks way too good for this kind of role, plays Chlo, a drug addict who has suffered a tragedy, and feels responsible for it.

Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. The film reserves judgement, but Chlo continues to suffer, wracked with grief, and the film leads her to an ambiguous, but hopeful, conclusion. The problems are many- the camera, while good cinematography-wise, is shaky at precarious. The movie, at just past thirty-two minutes, is too short or too long, I can't decide which, and the script does too much lingering and not enough getting on with it.

The conversation between Chlo and Martin McSweeney's character is overly see-through and obvious and seems like more of a heads-up to the viewer than a home-grown dialogue. There is no story arc- Chlo finds the earrings, things start to get better. There is no real revelation except, yes, she loved and was loved. The film, for all it's seriousness, feels somewhat superficial.

Lastly, I do not wish Alex Winthrow any ill intent. I once started watching an early short film by one of my favorite directors, and had to shut it off about five minutes in. Yes. It was *that* bad. "Earrings" is *not* that bad. Someday, Alex Winthrow, may shoot for the stars again, and land among them.


5/10