Soler does not fall into many of the pop cultural traps of a young director, and the two most immediate predecessor debuts that this film most reminds me of are David Gordon Green's George Washington and Steve McQueen's Hunger. Hopefully, as Soler matures as a director, he emulates the arc of McQueen, who seems well on his way to being the chief rival to Nuri Bilge Ceylan as the world's greatest living BIG IDEAS director, rather than Green, whose early promise gave way to one of the most depressing and shocking cinematic sellouts of the last few decades. Like Green's debut film, Soler uses shadow and light, canted angles, and disembodied voices, as well as an odd score, punctuated with silence and ambient noise. Like McQueen, Soler's film dares not to follow conventional narrative flow....
Other influences in the film (or accidental references) include Godfrey Reggio's Quatsi films, in a tunnel sequence; Roman Polanski's Repulsion, in blurred pans of room include mundanities- clothes, books, etc.; Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss in some shots involving mannekins (as well as shots of city streets at night). Other less obvious influences include the email's claims for Chris Marker's Sans Soleil, Alain Resnais's Last Year In Marienbad, and Herk Harvey's Carnival Of Souls- one of the underrated films that deal with loneliness- also shot on a next to nothing budget. Soler not only wrote and directed the film, shot in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, but produced, shot, edited, and (presumably) scored it.
In short, Phantom is a very good, to excellent film, and a noteworthy debut. It makes me feel guilty that, had the email arrived at a different time, I might have, due to the ego suck of so many bad artists, missed this promising work of art. If Soler can make the leap up from creative pastiching of excellent forebears, and inject more of his own vision- and potential and vision are the two key words here- then his next film could put him in the McQueen-Ceylan range. But, as I don't wanna jinx him into a fate as the Continent's David Gordon Vert, let's just all keep quiet (as a phantom?) about those two words, and wait, and see.
Ssshhh .
Full review at http://www.cosmoetica.com/B1384-DES935.htm
Other influences in the film (or accidental references) include Godfrey Reggio's Quatsi films, in a tunnel sequence; Roman Polanski's Repulsion, in blurred pans of room include mundanities- clothes, books, etc.; Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss in some shots involving mannekins (as well as shots of city streets at night). Other less obvious influences include the email's claims for Chris Marker's Sans Soleil, Alain Resnais's Last Year In Marienbad, and Herk Harvey's Carnival Of Souls- one of the underrated films that deal with loneliness- also shot on a next to nothing budget. Soler not only wrote and directed the film, shot in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, but produced, shot, edited, and (presumably) scored it.
In short, Phantom is a very good, to excellent film, and a noteworthy debut. It makes me feel guilty that, had the email arrived at a different time, I might have, due to the ego suck of so many bad artists, missed this promising work of art. If Soler can make the leap up from creative pastiching of excellent forebears, and inject more of his own vision- and potential and vision are the two key words here- then his next film could put him in the McQueen-Ceylan range. But, as I don't wanna jinx him into a fate as the Continent's David Gordon Vert, let's just all keep quiet (as a phantom?) about those two words, and wait, and see.
Ssshhh .
Full review at http://www.cosmoetica.com/B1384-DES935.htm