Taste

I’m struggling to voice exactly why this film didn’t work for me. It isn’t the fact that it is primarily silent and scoreless — Vive L’Amour is one of my favorite movies, after all. I suppose that it’s the lack of purpose the quietness has in this film. Other than a dull poignancy, the silence feels empty and sterile rather than full of emotion or charged with anything to say. Perhaps it’s the direction that caused the actors to play it so blankly, but this movie felt more like interactive pictures rather than a story or commentary on anything. The silence paired with the abstract interactions and setting caused this film to shoot itself in the foot rather than move me in any way.

I’m struggling to voice exactly why this film didn’t work for me. It isn’t the fact that it is primarily silent and scoreless — Vive L’Amour is one of my favorite movies, after all. I suppose that it’s the lack of purpose the quietness has in this film. Other than a dull poignancy, the silence feels empty and sterile rather than full of emotion or charged with anything to say. Perhaps it’s the direction that caused the actors to play it so blankly, but this movie felt more like interactive pictures rather than a story or commentary on anything. The silence paired with the abstract interactions and setting caused this film to shoot itself in the foot rather than move me in any way.

“O mundo não corre em uma só direção”

“O mundo não corre em uma só direção”

this would eat on stage

this would eat on stage

A decent production, striking cinematography and a unique atmosphere and tone ultimately and sadly doesn't save Taste from being meandering and disappointing. Compared to other slow cinema stumbles, Taste with its back story filled characters has a bit too much going on without enough explanation or clues to make it something like Jeanne Dielman where the style is actively telling the story, here the style and the story feel almost like a sperate thing whenever the story actually shows itself crudely yet the film is not simple enough either like for example a film like Voices Through Time where the simple premise is complimented by a simple style, here its just very messy in terms of how things fit in cohensive and the film's jarring quick editing in complete contrast with the slow pacing just adds to confusion that makes you desire more then you are fulfilled emotionally or even intellectually, i just don't know if the film knows what its trying to be and thus although it has some memorable visuals and fascinating ideas, I very much like the texture the film creates that makes it somewhat relatable like that foot message shot that feels equally gross yet the sound design makes it almost calming and that describes a lot of the vibes Taste has, sadly it just doesn't have more to layered the experience and its hard to describe mainly because it goes nowhere but its kinda intentional? I don't really know with this one, its a fascinating experiment formally and aesthetic wise but the result is mostly unappealing and uneventful in a way that really makes you question why you are watching it. I really do hope this director makes better films in the future as there were promising bright spots here but overall Taste is overcome by its flaws more then its few good quality.

A decent production, striking cinematography and a unique atmosphere and tone ultimately and sadly doesn't save Taste from being meandering and disappointing. Compared to other slow cinema stumbles, Taste with its back story filled characters has a bit too much going on without enough explanation or clues to make it something like Jeanne Dielman where the style is actively telling the story, here the style and the story feel almost like a sperate thing whenever the story actually shows itself crudely yet the film is not simple enough either like for example a film like Voices Through Time where the simple premise is complimented by a simple style, here its just very messy in terms of how things fit in cohensive and the film's jarring quick editing in complete contrast with the slow pacing just adds to confusion that makes you desire more then you are fulfilled emotionally or even intellectually, i just don't know if the film knows what its trying to be and thus although it has some memorable visuals and fascinating ideas, I very much like the texture the film creates that makes it somewhat relatable like that foot message shot that feels equally gross yet the sound design makes it almost calming and that describes a lot of the vibes Taste has, sadly it just doesn't have more to layered the experience and its hard to describe mainly because it goes nowhere but its kinda intentional? I don't really know with this one, its a fascinating experiment formally and aesthetic wise but the result is mostly unappealing and uneventful in a way that really makes you question why you are watching it. I really do hope this director makes better films in the future as there were promising bright spots here but overall Taste is overcome by its flaws more then its few good quality.

A decent production, striking cinematography and a unique atmosphere and tone ultimately and sadly doesn't save Taste from being meandering and disappointing. Compared to other slow cinema stumbles, Taste with its back story filled characters has a bit too much going on without enough explanation or clues to make it something like Jeanne Dielman where the style is actively telling the story, here the style and the story feel almost like a sperate thing whenever the story actually shows itself crudely yet the film is not simple enough either like for example a film like Voices Through Time where the simple premise is complimented by a simple style, here its just very messy in terms of how things fit in cohensive and the film's jarring quick editing in complete contrast with the slow pacing just adds to confusion that makes you desire more then you are fulfilled emotionally or even intellectually, i just don't know if the film knows what its trying to be and thus although it has some memorable visuals and fascinating ideas, I very much like the texture the film creates that makes it somewhat relatable like that foot message shot that feels equally gross yet the sound design makes it almost calming and that describes a lot of the vibes Taste has, sadly it just doesn't have more to layered the experience and its hard to describe mainly because it goes nowhere but its kinda intentional? I don't really know with this one, its a fascinating experiment formally and aesthetic wise but the result is mostly unappealing and uneventful in a way that really makes you question why you are watching it. I really do hope this director makes better films in the future as there were promising bright spots here but overall Taste is overcome by its flaws more then its few good quality.

A decent production, striking cinematography and a unique atmosphere and tone ultimately and sadly doesn't save Taste from being meandering and disappointing. Compared to other slow cinema stumbles, Taste with its back story filled characters has a bit too much going on without enough explanation or clues to make it something like Jeanne Dielman where the style is actively telling the story, here the style and the story feel almost like a sperate thing whenever the story actually shows itself crudely yet the film is not simple enough either like for example a film like Voices Through Time where the simple premise is complimented by a simple style, here its just very messy in terms of how things fit in cohensive and the film's jarring quick editing in complete contrast with the slow pacing just adds to confusion that makes you desire more then you are fulfilled emotionally or even intellectually, i just don't know if the film knows what its trying to be and thus although it has some memorable visuals and fascinating ideas, I very much like the texture the film creates that makes it somewhat relatable like that foot message shot that feels equally gross yet the sound design makes it almost calming and that describes a lot of the vibes Taste has, sadly it just doesn't have more to layered the experience and its hard to describe mainly because it goes nowhere but its kinda intentional? I don't really know with this one, its a fascinating experiment formally and aesthetic wise but the result is mostly unappealing and uneventful in a way that really makes you question why you are watching it. I really do hope this director makes better films in the future as there were promising bright spots here but overall Taste is overcome by its flaws more then its few good quality.