Songbird
Jul
14
Broken English
Filed Under Film Box
Broken English:
Director: Zoe Cassavetes
Players:
Although the film isn’t quite fresh in my mind (saw it over a week ago – I know I’m lazy), I can still see all the details that grow around the edges of the frame. It wasn’t exactly revolutionary as far as plot and whatnot, but it still has a unique enough voice to stand out from even the other indies surrounding it. I really liked this one. I think a good one word review for Broken English would be: Quaint. Sounds manly enough, no?
Parker Posie is a hopeless romantic to the extreme well past her “prime”. She envisioned a world in her youth, I’m sure, that closely resembled a Disneyesque fairy tale. Reality, of course, has plagued upon her all of the dastardly tricks it could muster. She’s quite high strung, depressed and pill-popping just to handle her day to day life. We get to know her, her friends and family as if the film wasn’t in a rush to move things forward. We experience her in and out of her element and see how much of a failure she is in both. Failure might be a strong word, but she’s trying a bit too hard. As the film does move along, it does so with very little exposition which is a nice breath of fresh air. I like a film that just plops you down in this new reality and does a good enough job of explaining everything without explaining. Savvy? Now when I say the film doesn’t rush, it’s not like some three hour epic, but I would be lying if I didn’t say scenes by themselves seem to unfold in close to real time in between the cuts. It pushes that a little, to the point that you know a long time has passed, but I didn’t feel anything was prolonged or unnecessary. Much unlike this last paragraph.
So as we follow the wound up Posie around her non-romantic life, look who shows up: a cute and cuddly French guy with obligatory stubble and conversation inducing hat. I’m not jealous of the “yummy” (ahem, and I quote) Frenchie, but couldn’t a romantic swoon you off your feet kind of fellow have come from somewhere less stereotypical? Idaho, perhaps… or Texas even – that way you wouldn’t have to change the title!
In all seriousness, I did find their chemistry quite genuine and even if he was “yummy” at least I can see why. Posie has a consistent character all the way through the film and never seems to break away from herself just because she found this head-turning guy, this is due to some fine character development, acting, and all the stuff behind the camera, so bravo. Maybe it’s the hopeless romantic in me, but all the cynics out there that would never in a billion years run off to some foreign country chasing some person you might fall in love with leaving behind everything you know and love, you’ve obviously never felt the same way… maybe you never will.
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Rachel - Music, FilmAggregator Love
Oh and “yummy” the French guy was. Hehe ;-)
Great review for a good film.
I saw the trailer for this the other day and now I really want to see it. If Zoe’s films can be anyway near as good as her father’s, then I will be happy. nice blog by the way.
Thanks! You will really enjoy this film, I noticed it stays with you, I still find myself thinking about it even though I saw it weeks ago.