Probably too hard. There's a lot of Lynch in here, but this goes way beyond a respectful nod to an influence and veers into often clumsy pastiche a lot of the visual presentation is like a checklist of Lynch films, although I didn't spot anything reminiscent of A Straight Story, there's ample representation of most everything else - at least done in a competent enough way that you can name that film, but without enough of its voice that it overrides the "borrowing".
The lead actor's weirdly miscast, I couldn't tell if he was meant to be in his 20s or 50s, it's like his features are too old for his face and ultimately there's not enough actual acting in the performance to carry it.
The soundtrack's probably the best feature, well - the music's probably the best feature, there's some nice jazz in there that gives things a creepy-sleaze vibe, but again, this gets into Lynch pastiche-territory and aside from the jazz there's a bland indie band or two? In there layering on the reverb for that dream-pop vibe that was current (maybe) when Chromatics were doing it. Again, soundtrack - sound design... the buzzing of neon, electrical humming - I wonder where else I've heard that before? Oh, right... It's a competent enough film. If the director gets to make another I'd give it a watch, but wouldn't rush to do so. Probably worth a view if it's part of your streaming/piracy package.
The lead actor's weirdly miscast, I couldn't tell if he was meant to be in his 20s or 50s, it's like his features are too old for his face and ultimately there's not enough actual acting in the performance to carry it.
The soundtrack's probably the best feature, well - the music's probably the best feature, there's some nice jazz in there that gives things a creepy-sleaze vibe, but again, this gets into Lynch pastiche-territory and aside from the jazz there's a bland indie band or two? In there layering on the reverb for that dream-pop vibe that was current (maybe) when Chromatics were doing it. Again, soundtrack - sound design... the buzzing of neon, electrical humming - I wonder where else I've heard that before? Oh, right... It's a competent enough film. If the director gets to make another I'd give it a watch, but wouldn't rush to do so. Probably worth a view if it's part of your streaming/piracy package.