Review!

Here is my review for my film, I decided to tell what a critic would really think about it ignoring the run time of 6 minutes. I also photo shopped it to look like it has been written up by Empire Film magazine and has been posted on their website. I structured my review as so;

- introduction (to genre, what the films about, who by etc)

- spoiler free discussion of plot and good and bad points

- acting

- technical, post production (sound, editing)

- conclusion/verdict

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Below is my review in its entirety

Film Noir is a franchise that is one of the prized possessions of cinema and in recent years has been converted and transformed to suit its modern audience through the likes of LA Confidential or LA Noire, the cinematic video game from GTA creators Rockstar. RELM Productions first feature Le Mortel Liaison takes these recent changes and throws them in the gutter like many criminals before it. While it’s not perfect, it’s the first true Film Noir seen in many years.

The suspenseful plot surrounds Detective Barnaby Frisco (played by Luke Jones), a shady cop with an even shadier background. As the early voice over describes, his ex-partner Bones Goodwin (Matthew Williams) had an romantic entanglement with Barnaby’s Wife Adrianna (played by seasoned actress Emilie Cherry) which didn’t end well for him, and Barnaby and his Wife somehow manage to get away free without anyone suspecting. While the characters are interesting, there is little interaction with all 3 on the screen at the same time, and this is not helped by average performance by a few actors.

Barnaby returns from his leave early in the film to his old job as a detective, shortly he leaves to investigate a murder (there is no rest for the wicked) and this is the pivotal scene where the plot gets moving and very interesting. While I will not ruin the ending for you, the film does end raising more questions than answering, maybe purposely left open to raise the question of a sequel?

The film has a fantastic flow, with many scenes blending into one another without any horrendous, jerky cuts. This level of polish also filters into the music, which really sets the atmosphere of uncertainty really well, harkening back to the early 50’s with Brass instruments and piano stabs that complement the goal of RELM Productions goal of returning to the true roots of Film Noir. The sound isn’t all perfect, with some scenes featuring drops in sound entirely, whether this is due to technical difficulties or on set noise, it is something that cannot be over looked.

And that’s what this film shouldn’t be, over looked. A tremendous effort for a first project, RELM Productions do have a future ahead of them but while Le Mortel Liaison may not survive the long run with competition from summer blockbusters coming round the corner, RELM Productions certainly have potential to create the next Brick.