The trailer is what attracted me to this film, and you can see how it was easy to pick out some stunning shots for it. Obviously fresh from film school, the makers try and pull off every cinematic trick in the book, and with every single shot so painstakingly conceived, it generally looks impressive, though a little self-conscious at times. This contemporary horror fantasy is primarily a visual film, for the most part playing like an extended pop-promo, and almost devoid of dialog for the fist 20 minutes or so, which is just as well, as the dialog is pretty ropey once it does start. As with Lyne's 'Lolita', it is impossible to maintain this sort of atmosphere for the entire duration of the film. Good scripts build up to climaxes then give the audience a chance to wind down before the next. This tries to keep them at a level for the entire running time, and interest begins to wane in the final quarter. More than this, the film comes across as a little forced in its representation of contemporary London, with unconvincing characters and a plot which sacrifices a hell of a lot in the name of artistic license. The script doesn't give the actors much leeway, and quite where Ellen Lowenstein is meant to come from, I'm not sure. Though the film never quite achieves any sort of real cohesion or tension, it does possess a certain oneiric quality, like 'The Hunger', and is one of those films that probably looks better in hindsight than it does when you are actually watching it.
Review of Immortality
