I saw this recently on the Sundance Film Channel. Thought provoking and concise. Despite it being a "short," I think this film says a lot. It definitely held my interest. By using Black and White, basic elements of film are that much more pronounced. Light and shadow, good and evil, now and then. As I viewed the film, it was not letterboxed, but it didn't seem that the director used very wide film to begin with. Stanley Kubrick did this also, because he knew his films would often be shown on TV. I wonder if Mr. Cowie had this in mind.
The film opens with a stop sign on a desert highway. Traffic does not stop going the other direction. Lola finds herself literally on a road. She has been there before. Was she returning for a reason? What if she had not been there a first time? This is what the film delves into. She meets a Drifter, as it were. One with the elements, possibly. The Robert Frost semblance is more than him just reciting verse. When giving her name, Lola pauses, exhaling a cigarette. It is as if she is not giving her real name. Is she cautious of him or does she keep a secret? Mild conversation turns to poetry and philosophy. Does Drifter do something for Lola, or was he the bright spot in a nightmare she dreamt?
This is the kind of "film" that most "movie-goers" will not like, because it seeds something in your mind and makes you think about it. As we go through life, we all realize, as we take our hits, that nothing stops going the other direction. But we can consciously avoid some of those hits. I believe this to be Mr. Cowie's moral. I did like his film. Anyone who has taken a little bit of time and an intro film class will appreciate this. Especially, I would assume, if one went to school in the mid-nineties, as I did, and as I would imagine Mr. Cowie did.
The film opens with a stop sign on a desert highway. Traffic does not stop going the other direction. Lola finds herself literally on a road. She has been there before. Was she returning for a reason? What if she had not been there a first time? This is what the film delves into. She meets a Drifter, as it were. One with the elements, possibly. The Robert Frost semblance is more than him just reciting verse. When giving her name, Lola pauses, exhaling a cigarette. It is as if she is not giving her real name. Is she cautious of him or does she keep a secret? Mild conversation turns to poetry and philosophy. Does Drifter do something for Lola, or was he the bright spot in a nightmare she dreamt?
This is the kind of "film" that most "movie-goers" will not like, because it seeds something in your mind and makes you think about it. As we go through life, we all realize, as we take our hits, that nothing stops going the other direction. But we can consciously avoid some of those hits. I believe this to be Mr. Cowie's moral. I did like his film. Anyone who has taken a little bit of time and an intro film class will appreciate this. Especially, I would assume, if one went to school in the mid-nineties, as I did, and as I would imagine Mr. Cowie did.
