Reviews

There is quite a good film here, from excellent cinematography to a brilliantly lo-key cast. The screenwriter and director should be commended for creating a film which is both a convincing coming-of-age drama (set around 1994), and a rumination on reality and truth. Whether it was influenced directly by Kurosawa's Rashomon is unclear, but the similarities are too striking to not be commented on. Formally, As You Are can be seen as a formal imitation of Rashomon, as it is structured upon a murder investigation, chapterized by the interrogations of the law official, and different flashbacks developing the story, but without ever coming to straight out answers to the mystery. A director could do worse than imitate and develop structures and themes first put on film by the great Japanese master. And this fine film results in a brilliant homage, rather than a plagiarized pastiche.

Boxes, boxes, boxes... A prepubescent girl discovers the secrets of her box - including figuring out how to open it up (with all the premenstrual horror that this implies) - while her divorced father moves the boxes of his failed marriage. A box as a symbol in this film is downright cervical. The symbolism is too infantile and offensive to analyze further.

But at least the soundtrack plagiarizes from quality - the Nacht Musik of Bartok's Musik für Saiteninstrumente, Schlagzeug und Celesta (at least with good ol' Bela, the symbolism is Pythagorean, Golden, and Fibonaccian).

Even if the climax occurs, as in Bartok's music, at precisely 0.61803398876895 times the length of this bloody film, I doubt anything much would be salvaged from this ridiculous but well-realized script.

This mildly amusing film is most notable for its almost-obsessive focus on the music of Dan Boeckner's third music project - the Handsome Furs.

As an acquaintance of everyone's favourite Canuck art-punk (familiarity making the suspension of disbelief a tad difficult. Even Emma Roberts' manic performance did not help here - we watch this film to see attractive movie stars look adorable, not for convincing acting of notable depth), I was surprised to hear his singing in the opening scene. And then I was delighted to hear song snippet after song snippet of his amazingly expressive vocal prowess. For this viewer, the soundtrack was the standout feature, despite the fact that music lyrics and film storyline relate only in the most general of interpretations.

I appreciate the director's commitment to this incredible band. No make-art-by-committee or producers inflicting their own tastes here. It is always refreshing to find a new example of auteur film making.

I don't know if I enjoyed this more than the terse elegance of the Furs' debut video for Dumb Animals, directed by Panos Cosmatos ("Beyond the Black Rainbow"), but at any rate, it is hard to imagine a longer music video for this great-but-now-defunct band.