For what it is, Lover is an ambitious outing for what is really a student film. As most people, I only watched Lover because I like Ralph's YouTube work. There are times when I saw flashed of Ralphthemoviemaker and more times where I saw what is obliviously a film written, directed, and edited by college freshman/sophomore. There's a scene where the female main character (Christina) asks Ralph's character (Howard) if he has a bathroom. He gives her directions and mentions "It'd be weird if I didn't". There are scenes that are clearly just there to showcase his cat. I loved the times when Ralph's humor shines through. My issue is that it feels like half the movie is missing. At an hour and twenty minutes, the film never really gets time to breath and develop. I was confused at least 75% of the time. Either we needed more time or the plot needed to be streamlined. I don't understand why anyone is doing what their doing and I never got a grasp of the characters relationships. Me get scenes of Christina coming home (to what is clearly someone's parent's house based on the decor) for morning bagel parties, but I really don't know if those are just her roommates or if there is more to it. They are one of the biggest points of confusion to me. Without going into the later points of the plot, they don't really develop as characters, but are just different each time we see them. Christina is a rough spot too. Most of the characters are clearly not actors and just Ralph's friends hanging out, but Christina seems to actually be trying to act. Her facial emotions I can buy sometimes, but her dialog is missing any emotion. I often wished we had subtitles for her lines. She mentions to Harold that one of her friends was having a party. I though she said Raven, so when they show up, I assumed the girl that opens the door was Raven, but it became clear that Raven was a guy in the room (who either has a ridiculously thick Boston accent or the worst fake one I have ever heard). Like an hour later, we see the name Raymond it I realize that makes a lot more sense. For a $10,000 college film, Lover clearly was shooting for a high bar. It's trying to ride the line of "artsy" but often at the cost of the story. I'm left with the feeling that I only saw every third scene and I'm missing so much of the story. Maybe I'm just slow, but I'm totally confused. More confused than Christina is when Harold makes them microwave popcorn for breakfast.
For what it is, Lover is an ambitious outing for what is really a student film. As most people, I only watched Lover because I like Ralph's YouTube work. There are times when I saw flashed of Ralphthemoviemaker and more times where I saw what is obliviously a film written, directed, and edited by college freshman/sophomore. There's a scene where the female main character (Christina) asks Ralph's character (Howard) if he has a bathroom. He gives her directions and mentions "It'd be weird if I didn't". There are scenes that are clearly just there to showcase his cat. I loved the times when Ralph's humor shines through. My issue is that it feels like half the movie is missing. At an hour and twenty minutes, the film never really gets time to breath and develop. I was confused at least 75% of the time. Either we needed more time or the plot needed to be streamlined. I don't understand why anyone is doing what their doing and I never got a grasp of the characters relationships. Me get scenes of Christina coming home (to what is clearly someone's parent's house based on the decor) for morning bagel parties, but I really don't know if those are just her roommates or if there is more to it. They are one of the biggest points of confusion to me. Without going into the later points of the plot, they don't really develop as characters, but are just different each time we see them. Christina is a rough spot too. Most of the characters are clearly not actors and just Ralph's friends hanging out, but Christina seems to actually be trying to act. Her facial emotions I can buy sometimes, but her dialog is missing any emotion. I often wished we had subtitles for her lines. She mentions to Harold that one of her friends was having a party. I though she said Raven, so when they show up, I assumed the girl that opens the door was Raven, but it became clear that Raven was a guy in the room (who either has a ridiculously thick Boston accent or the worst fake one I have ever heard). Like an hour later, we see the name Raymond it I realize that makes a lot more sense. For a $10,000 college film, Lover clearly was shooting for a high bar. It's trying to ride the line of "artsy" but often at the cost of the story. I'm left with the feeling that I only saw every third scene and I'm missing so much of the story. Maybe I'm just slow, but I'm totally confused. More confused than Christina is when Harold makes them microwave popcorn for breakfast.
