I got a chance to watch Looped Love over the holidays. I rarely watch these things and tend to have a specific skew when I do. I consider short films a way for aspiring directors to show off their understanding of film creation and exercise some of those talents. Something like a demo reel. Looped Love is a prime example of a auteur intending to showcase their creativity in writing and in photography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okwgP58Ibxo
The Good
The storytelling methods used here are pretty on the nose but used in creative ways. The idea of a narrator breaking down and explaining scenes is not new but I did find the idea of the narrator explaining how the characters break the 4th wall pretty clever. The way that the director is both talking to the general audience as well as film auteurs simultaneously is something that made me watch and re-watch. The double entandre’s throughout the writing is what makes the film seem clever as the narrator highlights aspects of film and their conventions.
The Cinematography here is really impressive. The director has a good sense of how to develop and frame a scene to support the narrative. There’s a love story hidden in this movie and the imagery is critical in conveying the development of the love story as the narrative and script are focused on delivering other messages.
The Bad
There are parts of Looped Love that still seem to drag. For a 10 minute film that utilizes time loops one should expect scenes to be revisited but there are a few revisits that seem needless. They do not advance the narrative or plot and seem to appear solely to buy the narrator time to explain things.
Overall
Pretty good movie. It was cute, clever, and entertaining from start to finish. Looped Love is spoken in Italian and I watched this film with English subtitles which made me re-watch a few scenes multiple times. The imagery, narrative, and audio are all critical in appreciating the film. I’m not sure if this was intentional or not but it also encouraged me to give a close look to the camera angles and framing used throughout.
Directed by: Alessandro Marzullo
Written by: Alessandro Marzullo, Valerio Chicca DOP Rocco Marra
Starring: Diane Fleri, Riccardo Giacomini, Sean Collins, Bruno Boni Voice Over Emanuela Rossi
Produced by: Leblon Communication
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Acting - 6/10
6/10
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Cinematography - 9/10
9/10
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Plot/Screenplay - 7/10
7/10
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Setting/Theme - 7/10
7/10
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Buyability - 6/10
6/10
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Recyclability - 7/10
7/10
