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★★
Directed by:#AlexanderHarrison
Written by: #AlexanderHarrison
Starring: #MikaSimmons, #MarkByrne and #CamillaAbrantes
Alexander Harrison’s ‘All my love’ proves to be a very problematic effort at producing a drama revolving around a baron woman’s struggle to produce a child with her cheating negligent husband. The script has a fair plot with good intentions, yet with a lack of technical cohesion and the occasional inattentive execution from all other departments, the plot points do not hit as well as they should.
The first two acts seem to pointlessly build to a flat third by dragging out emphasis on a strung-out love triangle with little to no plot. The only interesting aspect seemed to be the twist throughout the second act which adds to what the entire first act needed, a sterner friction between protagonist and antagonist. Perhaps the complexity of the narrative and the desperate need for character development would be more suited to a longer runtime.
Mika Simmons’ voice for the spoken dialogue seems her perfect for the casting of Johanna spectre, but her performance alongside this seems almost robotic and stale. In some ways, this could be intentional in an attempt to further display the social angst of her character. The performances from all other cast members are also lacking characterization. However, for a student film to attempt shooting some very intimate scenes, is both a brave venture for Harrison’s direction and the amateur cast.
The sound design becomes rocky in moments when it feels the need to overcompensate with heavy soundtracks. This is an attempt to fill an emptiness as a product of a lack in dialogue within lingering shots. These moments, although problematic, could be seen as a device to further develop the characters relationships. The sound mixing bleeds into each scene smoothly and is well accomplished. Due to a lack of casting in some scenes, the sound design offers a decent attempt at compensating for the absence of atmosphere.
Fyras Slaiman’s charming cinematography is slick and in modern taste with some nice framing and camera movements. The majority of shots have little to no faults. This deems Marcelo Veloz’s editing as justifiable as they often linger too heavily on some of these shots creating dull moments within some scenes of characters contemplating dialogue or introducing new characters.
Hu Zhang’s Production design have done the best they can, however it is the choice of location that drives the image of setting, if any.
All technical elements neglect the need to push emphasis on key moments that display true character traits. When Johanna cuts her hand on a smashed glass is just one of these moments that fails to hit its mark. ‘All my love’ is a very ambitious project that falls short of accomplishing the standards of what a professional short film should be.
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