|
 Earlier
this month, I saw "Pose Down," directed and written by Erika Yeomans, at
the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. I have been a big fan
of Yeomans' short, experimental film work for many years. This
full-length feature did not disappoint me or the attendees at the
festival, who were abuzz about the southwest Florida narrative. "Pose
Down" retains many of the aesthetic sensibilities of Erika's more
quirky, experimental work, while providing audiences with a tender,
accessible tale about a young woman's desire to confront her thoughtless
life choices, while examining her hometown history.
Set in Fort
Meyers, FL (circa mid-nineties with flashbacks to the mid-eighties' high
school years), "Pose Down" explores the worlds of Marlena Gates (Kristin
DiSpaltro) and Chance Abel (Cosmo Pfeil) -- one turned upside down by
the impulsive, random actions of the heroine; the other unhinged by the
random actions of a local police force and the reckless news media.
DiSpaltro
plays the lead unsympathetically as she moves through the movie making
one careless mistake after another. From cheating on her husband to
sleeping with a minor, her character lives a life in limbo by the
community pool in her recently deceased mother's beige-upon-beige
subdivision. Marlena finally has her epiphany moments before she is
arrested (twice in the film) for moral turpitude and tells her young
paramour to “not just let life happen to you.”
Profound
psychological commentary is presented in a scene where Marlene sits in
her bed staring at the wall as she turns a bedside lamp on and off.
Equally poignant is a scene where her reflection in a large console
television reveals her frustration with the camcorder footage that she
filmed to assist her high school classmate. Set in a time before cell
phones and email, Yeoman’s film deftly captures an era at the dawn of
solipsistic technological devices.
As a
wonderful narrative counterpoint, Chance's life sinks more and more into
turmoil as he is repeatedly mistaken for a “Hard Copy” murderer on the
run. As Chance’s girlfriend leaves him and his computer business
founders, Pfeil delivers a delightful performance of a nice, amiable guy
who is dealt shitty hand after shitty hand, trying to persevere, despite
the fate that Yeomans has pre-destined for him.
Mot
Filipowski delivers an odd, humorous performance as the hapless
Detective Lee, who pitifully tries to keep a professional distance while
subtly flirting with Marlena during his pursuit of the killer. With
wisps of adolescent nostalgia and homage to 1980s coming-of-age movies,
Amanda Hootman and Chris Brochu play Marlena and her high-school
boyfriend in the movie’s flashback scenes.
Yeomans
infrequently (sometimes too infrequently for my tastes) sprinkles the
story with hilarious stock footage of Florida, a landscape of bizarre
vistas and playful, sentient aquatic mammals. From the slick, retro
opening titles immediately followed by synecdochally thawing oranges,
with reaction shots of pool-side domesticated dolphins in the middle of
the story, to the lumbering, helpless manatees at the film's end,
Yeomans unravels a Floridian tale devoid of trite clichés, rich and
native, buoyed with wit and insight into a time and place that can
easily be ridiculed by tabloid journalism. Yeomans’ writing and
directing strengths have demonstrated that she can sustain a funny,
offbeat story for ninety minutes with characters whose lives are
familiar and at times sympathetic, aided by an intelligent narrative
tempo, effective editing, and an enjoyable indie alt-rock soundtrack.
3.5 stars (out of 4)
Michael Merino |
