77 Spaces -- a film by AJ Brooks

Just finished watching them all, and yours was my favorite AJ! Beautiful imagery, great use of music (so cool that you could use the Moby tracks), and terrific lead.

Even though there wasn't much of a traditional story, it kept me completely hooked from start to finish. So I can't really make any complaints in that department. The only (very) minor quibble would be that the narration was a little rushed at times. But overall I was really impressed by it.

Great job man, congrats.
 
Nice job man! I loved the camerawork, narrative, and overall style of the film... The one thing about it is……. I feel its just in the wrong fest. I guess when I think "war" I think of a bigger conflict. The only thing about war that was mentioned was when she said its a war inside her mind. But not enough to really make me think of one.

Other than that, I think its a fantastically well put together film, specially considering how fast you managed to get it done.
in my top 5
 
This was indeed a nice narrative. Some very special shots included. Very nicely crafted in all respects. Warfest? Im not 100% sold on that point.

EDIT: My original post still stands as written above. Wanted to clarify however, may be my point was poorly worded - it should read more along the lines that I didnt see her inner conflict as a "war" as such. It is very open to people's individual interpretation. "Theres a war inside my head" etc etc. For me I guess conflict doesn't necessarily equate to war.
 
Oh I think it's definitely war fest, it's the conflict of the mind to remember that which is important versus that which is trivial. I've wondered why I remember stupid things but not the important things. Like I remember small embarrassments that don't mean anything, or what someone said about a shirt I wore, and have no memory of my son's first steps.

AJ, great short. i love that you went high experimental. You could have probably done with less narration, but it's kinda cool that you went full tilt Malick ;-). The only thing I think didn't work was her breaking the 4th wall, it felt jarring and I'm not sure what was gained by it. But that's such a minor quibble it's ridiculous. Short review: you hit it out of the park.
 
Shawn, I'm gonna go with you absolutely on the inclusion-in-this-fest bit; I think this absolutely belongs and is wonderfully styled; but I also am gonna have to disagree with the 4th wall usage... how jarring it was (and it WAS) made the film for me -- the whole thing felt (rightfully, I think) as if we the user were inside her mind, jumping here to there, seeing but not seeing, sometimes sense sometimes abstract, and the inclusion of "us" at the end was a really nifty trick in my book. Awesome job!!
 
It was a pleasure working with AJ as always. Great project to be involved with. :)

I really enjoyed our use of filtration on this film- for those that want to know here is what we did:

House Shots: Nothing
At The Tree, Street, Park: Rear Netting- 1 layer of Fogal Nobeless Noir Pantyhose (Plus the proper amounts of ND)
At the grave yard: Rear Netting- 2 layers of Fogal Nobeless Noir Pantyhose + 1/2 Hollywood Black Magic (Plus the proper amounts of ND)

Shot on the T3i with the stock lens, and we also used a 70-300mm.

Lighting: All planned around specific parts of the day to shoot. We mostly used bounces and negative fills. For the interior house stuff we use 1x 201 Diva that I bounced off the ceiling.

In regards to it fitting into WarFest, AJ and I talked about this as we worked on this project. We both knew that there would most likely be some blow back / disagreement from people. But I support AJ, and think that this does fall in the category. Is it traditional? Nope. But that is exactly what I like about it- war happens on many more levels then just what is obvious. In addition to her mentioning that she is fighting to retain the memories she wants, there is a whole scene of the two memories doing battle with each other and one wins out. I'm glad that not all of the stories told for this contest are traditional on the nose stories about war. But that is just my $0.02 anyway ... :)
 
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I similarly tried to go with an implied "war" theme. I liked how out of the box this was. I enjoyed the story and cinematography of this one. I think I actually said "Wow, I liked that one." out load when it was done.
 
Imagery was absolutely beautiful. Love the shot of her in the bathroom with the water between her fingers. And with such an abstract concept, you did a surprisingly great job of concretely telling the narrative. Overall, I much preferred the last two minutes or so (basically starting when the music changes) to the first half. It built really nicely to a compelling ending. Another beautiful short to add to your past DVX entries.
A couple critiques: Didn't love the shots in the kitchen. Not exactly sure, but they fell short for me cinematically compared to the rest. I can't say that I felt like I understood it fully after the first watch.
As for the question of whether or not this short belongs in the fest, I'm not sold on its inclusion in Warfest. Although the main character mentions her mind at "war" and "peace," I didn't feel like that manifested itself in the narrative. The war theme for me implies two opposing sides with vested interests in overcoming the other, and besides that one sequence between the two guys under the bridge (I think that's what the location was), I didn't feel like the thoughts were actually fighting -- the main character was just confused about the mechanics of her mind and memory. Anyway, ramble over. Congrats on thinking outside the box.
 
Had fun working a little bit on this one and I thank you for showing me how nice my camera can look! It's always fun to watch you and Ryan work together.
 
This was very skilfully put together, and some of the shots had stunning composition.
It's hard to be too fussy on wether it qualifies or not when non-qualifying would mean not seeing such a cool piece.
Mad props fellas.
 
I think the question about whether this fulfills the "war" requirement is an interesting and valid topic.

Ryan and Shawn said it pretty well already, but here are my thoughts.

We are challenged to be creative with the fest theme and valid interpretations. Is 77 Spaces the exact summation of what you'd first think of when you hear "WarFest?" Definitely, no. But isn't that a good thing?

It's an outlier, for sure. But don't we want those? I absolutely believe it falls within the spectrum and spirit of the theme. And I believe outliers should be welcomed and encouraged in these fests, as long as it's clear someone isn't trying to pass off a film that was made without the specific fest in mind. Don't we want as much variety as possible? Rather than each film trying to emulate the expected "generic ideal film?"

Thanks for the comments everyone! I really appreciate the feedback.
 
I wanted to comment while this was still fresh, and after the first viewing.

This was a beautiful piece, both cinematically and narratively. I know you mentioned that this was an experimental piece, but I absolutely loved it (I'm not really into "experimental" most of the time because there is no continuity nor reason for anything a lot of times). The final shot had me in tears. You're a phenomenal story teller, and I always love your entries.

I caught some flack on "ScareFest" for my interpretation of scare, so hopefully no one continues that here. IMO, this was absolutely a war. The war that we battle day to day inside our own minds that torments us from the depths. There are many types of war (Man vs. Self, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Machine, Man vs. The World), and I believe that Man vs. Self is the single most important war that's fought. It's what makes us who we are, and what tears us apart from it.

Beautiful job, as always.

I'll wrote more later. The baby woke up.
 
AJ Brooks said:
It's an outlier, for sure. But don't we want those? I absolutely believe it falls within the spectrum and spirit of the theme. And I believe outliers should be welcomed and encouraged in these fests, as long as it's clear someone isn't trying to pass off a film that was made without the specific fest in mind. Don't we want as much variety as possible? Rather than each film trying to emulate the expected "generic ideal film?".
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I think so and completely agree. If everything has to be cookie cutter / on the nose interpretations for everything the resulting entries will get very bland, very quickly ... Over the years I haven't liked all of the more interpretive films, but I have liked the diversity and freshness they bring to the Fest. Especially when 20 - 30 films get entered ...
 
I think combined (with Ryans cinematography) AJ you have produced a very attractive film and I applaud the attempt to convey a different perspective on the nature of war through reflection of an inner conflict. However... this is where I think the script lets the film down unfortunately. If you are grabbing our nuts and saying - 'dude... this is my 'different' take on war - suck it up' then it better be filled with some real existential metaphorical meaning - some real poetry of the soul.

If your going down the road of arthouse you need more than the Sundance visuals... you gotta have the written substance to back it up. At times the film does this - I liked the contrast between the good dude and the bad dude and the rendition of her different opinions (of those men) fighting it out. It was almost lurching into the territory of Maya Derren there.

But these strings dilly-dance us to one thought... one idea, then another... but don't seem to bring to a consistent central conflict playing in her head... or even... to put it more abstractly... a prevailing ideology shaping what the film is talking about - that we're supposed to be entertained/enlightened by.

Which makes the rude cliche that ties the end of the film... this supposed source of conflict... her princess like wish-fulfillment... all the less dissatisfying.

spoilers
Your telling me that at the end of the day this girl just wants a hipster dude bearing a wedding ring? Really? I mean really? You don't have to be a feminist to find that perspective so amusingly steeped in male egocentricity to know... to already hear the giggles resounding among the flowery quilts of the intelligentsia. And it would i'm afraid! (I've seen their bedrooms)

So in all, a very beautiful looking film, well acted, but marred by visual cliche, an A-Z Sundance inspired 90s American arthouse, with a script stricken, by a cliched and immature perception of feminine inner conflict. I don't think this is a terrible film by any account, but im afraid i didn't find it as strong as others you've shared here. I still woud rank this film in my top 5 this fest incidentally but I deeply and most sincerely suggest you start searching out other writers because I believe clearly your talents like in visuals and direction.
 
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Thanks Lawrie. Always enjoy your reviews, good or bad.

lawriejaffa said:
spoilers
Your telling me that at the end of the day this girl just wants a hipster dude bearing a wedding ring? Really? I mean really? You don't have to be a feminist to find that perspective so amusingly steeped in male egocentricity to know... to already hear the giggles resounding among the flowery quilts of the intelligentsia. And it would i'm afraid! (I've seen their bedrooms)
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I'd absolutely agree if she were dreaming and wishing for her hipster prince charming that she had never met before, but longed for... and that was the point of the film, you would be very right to "ick!"

However, the central idea of the film is that we have little to no control to remember the details of the good memories.

She is remembering a specific lost love, as in she had him at one point and he's gone and she can't hold on to his memory anymore. I think that is something everyone can feel. The roles could easily have been switched, a husband and his fading memory of his lost wife.
 
I'd absolutely agree if she were dreaming and wishing for her hipster prince charming that she had never met before, but longed for... and that was the point of the film, you would be very right to "ick!"
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Remember - she is not dreaming or wishing for anything. What we are watching is what YOU have decided to show us. The visuals you pick create the metaphors that speak for your film, and as such by ending your film climactically on our young lady pining for a faceless lost love... images of rings symbolic of marriage etc. Hence you express what is commonly known as a very male 'paternalistic' view of troubled young women, wishing to be saved - yes even metaphorically from their own bad memories... by well... marriage. Which is indicative of the princess fantasy. That is not automatically bad... it works wonderfully here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIl-h6IQKn0&feature=related - as would your emo version of that scene in a conventional film but in an arthouse film, such tropes produce groans especially (daresay) among female writer/directors.

I linked this to a female writer friend of mine who even guessed the visual motiffs that would end this movie before they appeared - that tells me a lot - and should tell you a lot.
However, the central idea of the film is that we have little to no control to remember the details of the good memories.
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An artist is free to declare whatever central idea they want for their film but alas...

She is remembering a specific lost love, as in she had him at one point and he's gone and she can't hold on to his memory anymore. I think that is something everyone can feel. The roles could easily have been switched, a husband and his fading memory of his lost wife.
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Of course you could reverse the cliche, that wouldnt have made the film anymore artistic however, and fact is you didn't anyway so we'll never know. What makes it a cliche is the fact... that most times its not reversed :) What would have was a wee venture down more dangerous and less traditional subject matter. The fact that the film produced a few important cliches that could be guessed, in the context of a film with obvious artistic pretension is one I would dutifully consider instead of trying to justify or explain away.

Just to add, in case my feedback sounds harsh. To make an artistic film with genuine merit and meaning is a lot harder than producing some crowdpleasing bs (which is usually the most popular type of film here... and tbh even with me when im sitting through a pile of em'!) Unfortunately it remains a tough fact, that to make a good artistic film is a lot harder... hence the critique, but don't let that take away from the respect and admiration i have for the positive aspects of your film, and how talented you are as a filmmaker.
 
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Alas, the viewer is left to fill in the blanks. And the dots connected for you were not satisfactory. Blast! I thought this one would be right up your alley. Maybe it is and that is why it's in harsh scrutiny? ;)

So far the American audience I have shown this too has had the desired emotional effect. Perhaps we are just too simple and still find catharsis in these cliches and aren't as sophisticated as our other world counterparts. ;)
 
Alas, the viewer is left to fill in the blanks.
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Your end didn't leave us with any blanks to fill - it dictated the motive of our girl with the most cliche'd of motives. You made it easy, sentimental and mainstream at the finish line. This is what confounded your attempt at a more profound film - the bits that were simply 'too easy.'

Blast! I thought this one would be right up your alley.
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It is a beautiful film - its romantic, and dreamlike, but its morally old fashioned and adolescent in its romantic fantasies. As an intellectual film it falls flat - as a 'romantic' film for mushy romeo's it works just fine. But i think you are capable of much more.

So far the American audience I have shown this too has had the desired emotional effect.
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American Audience hehe? (Let's not blindside critique for sake of 'but my mum and mates on FB like it...) What a national audience thinks - you or I... won't know for crap!

Emotional effect? Bourgeois sentimentality is what ruined the potential for your film to be artistically profound - all the ingredients were there. Emotional effect does not equal artistic success. In fact, in most cases, it equals caatharcism - and is most useful (in the mushy context) for mainstream entertainment - in fact its a requirement. Why would it be a 'requirement' in your art film?

Perhaps we are just too simple and still find catharsis in these cliches and aren't as sophisticated as our other world counterparts.
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No - just you with this particular film (and not so with other films you have made.) I wouldnt expect this film to be regarded as intellectually sophisticated - but is sophisticated in other ways that Ive given it credit for. Again consider the fact that some of your cliches were guessed at before it even ended and consider - if you were to do it again, what the subversive version of your own film would be. I bet it would be even better.
 
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Nothing makes my opinion more sacred than yours my friend, but naturally if you challenge me to validate my critique I will happily do so. It's often the best reason to NEVER challenge the different critiques people give you, because lets face it, the only result is exactly that... expanded explanations of the same negative critique.

Thats why I just learned to thank folk offering critique (or try to haha) instead of fighting them over it - no matter how sensitive i am about my own film. I want to reiterate - because I feel I have to, that I see you as an already talented filmmaker, but my critique is based on my perception that you are even more than just talented. Don't forget the positives even if we were discussing the negatives :)
 
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