Dave Christiano makes his feature film directorial debut with a film about the the struggles of divorce.
The film tells the story of Dave, a 47-year-old Christian man on the other side of an unwanted divorce. He reminisces about his old high school girlfriend from 30 years prior, and attempts to get in contact with her against the advice of his friend and co-worker Paul.
The film has its moments but I feel it falls short. The acting in the film is solid, but the way in which it is shot hurts the film in a big way. The lighting isn't bad, the framing, the movement, etc. The biggest problem is the film moves very slowly, lots of slow zooms, push-ins and pullouts, and many times where you see Dave thinking or remembering. There isn't anything wrong with this, but it seems it is done a lot, with most events in the film being driven by these moments. The better parts of the film are the moments with more talking and more interaction amongst the characters. This film is dialog, lots and lots of dialog.
The film builds to a specific moment where Dave actually does see his old girlfriend who is now married, has kids, etc. The majority before that is Dave thinking about her (sometimes in flashback, other times talking of her), but I find this to be the biggest flaw. The flashbacks don't build in enough care for the relationship Dave once had. So when the time comes for him to see his old girlfriend, the moment isn't as strong as it could be. I think too much time is spent seeing Dave think about making decisions and changing things, self loathing and complaining about his situation, that the film is over before you get to see much happen. This is where the film drags, the build up to the decision to go see her. The film is somber and its laid on pretty thick. The music is nice but seems to aid in the drawn out nature of the film. When you have only gotten into the film about 15 minutes you would probably guess it's been a half hour or more. Overall the film needed to have more push behind it, and have a faster pace. I think the overall idea of the film and the dialog driven nature of it would've been benefitted with more interesting camera work and and a wider aspect ratio. That is just a personal opinion, but the film needed more visual interest to keep my attention.
I did like the relationship between Dave and his newer love interest Carla. The chemistry between them was there, and the poking and prodding of her co-worker about Dave was enjoyable. Other jokes between Dave and his daughters kept things light and sped the film up.
The part of the film that I liked the most was Dave's conversation with the divorce group leader. The acting in that sequence is very good and the message of the conversation is one that will last. It deals with being content with God's choices of our lives. This applies to everything in life, the good and bad...not just an issue like divorce. If the only thing that anyone gets out of the film is from that conversation, it's enough to inspire some change.
“Things don't grow at 12,000 feet, but they sure do grow in the valley. It's in these valley times of life that he's doing something big in us. God doesn't always let us in on what he's doing, he wants us to walk by faith, because faith pleases God.”
Overall I'm not sure if I liked this film. I liked moments in it but found it could've been much shorter, and many moments spread out very thin. There was a lot of potential in this film based on the source idea, but I'm not sure it was milked like it could've been. However there are spiritual strengths in the film that can be very useful for the viewer. If you have been divorce or are going through it, the film can help you deal with it, that much is certain. Especially the conversation Dave has with the group leader. I could see someone using that conversation in the film at a divorce group, it has lots of truth in it.
This isn't a film I particularly enjoyed, but I guarantee it has its audience. Although I find much wrong with this film, Dave Christiano hasn't necessarily failed here. One thing he can do is direct actors because the acting in the film is solid. I think regardless of all other things, the film would've been much better if it had a faster pace and had certain aspects of the film cut out. I'm also aware that this film was a sort of therapeutic project for Dave Christiano on a personal level (having been divorced himself, and the character of Mary being based on a real person he knew). So regardless of what I think of the film or what others think, I'm sure Dave got what he needed out of the project.
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Kyle Prohaska
CEO, Praise Pictures
http://www.praisepictures.com
