Genre: Supernatural, Arthouse
Director: Ben Blaine, Chris Blaine
Availability: VOD
Open your mind really, really big. Your new boyfriend, who you're pretty psyched about, has a dead girlfriend who is resurrected in any bed or place where the two of you have sex. She's super broken and bloody and throws insults and insightful jabs at you, is totally, awkwardly, in your lovemaking bubble, and then disappears just as abruptly as she arrived. But it's okay, really, you'll cope. And somehow your new, fragile relationship will withstand this super fucked up situation because even though you two just met you're already in love.
Wait. That sounded snarky. And maybe it is a little bit but, honestly, Nina Forever is quite good. It's just a hard to relate to kind of good. Not that horror movies are easy to relate to but this one is especially difficult. I think it tries to mask itself as a horror comedy in an effort to somewhat ease the absolute insanity of the plot, but its heart isn't in it and so it can't eliminate the melancholy despair that every person in this film is experiencing, including Nina herself.
"I don't want this."
"Neither do I."
Nina Forever was a horror festival darling and I'd been reading rave reviews about it for over a year before it was publicly available. My expectations were high, my excitement, squeely, and I'm not saying that I was disappointed but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. It's a rather sexy movie, in the way horror movies can be, covered in blood, visceral, and base. And it's not funny per se, though it tries not to take itself too seriously, how successful it is with that it's hard to say. I suppose if you wanted to take a closer look at the subtext of the movie one could say that Nina is a symbolic figure representing the presence of The Ex that is always looming and intimidating in new relationships. Sometimes The Ex gets in your head and you wonder, did he do this with her? Did she sit here? How am I special? How was she? This invisible force of The Ex can drive a wedge between a new couple. And in Nina's case, quite literally.
Aside from the performances, which were terrific, I'd say the strongest quality this movie has going for it is its imagery. Certain scenes are artistically crafted in such a way that it feels like a photo shoot. Stage - shoot - print. And those scenes are perfection. They will be what carries this movie through time, affectionately revisiting them in my mind like the work of a favorite artist.
Nina... forever.
4 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment