BREAK MY FALL

BREAK MY FALL

Lazing around one afternoon in the apartment she shares with her lover Sally (Sophie Anderson), Liza (Kat Redstone) uncovers a recent piece of post from an old flame of Sally’s. For a girl with huge insecurities that already manifest themselves in the form of alcoholism and an eating disorder, this is not good news.

But, despite smashing their communal laptop in a bid to cut Sally off from potentially communicating with said ex (Angela Last), Liza manages to keep her discovery a secret from Sally, for a time. Although the fact that she’s back on the booze is more immediately apparent.

In the meantime, the couple perform together in their indie band, and get on with life amid the Hackney gay scene. For Sally, this includes working at Liza’s friend Jamie’s (Collin Clay Chace) fast food takeaway. For Liza, it involves hanging out with their mutual rent boy mate Vin (Kai Brandon Ly) when she’s supposed to be studying towards a college degree, and turning up unannounced at Sally’s place of work, much to the latter’s fury.

We gradually learn that Liza’s obsessive possessiveness has been driving a wedge between the two. She looks like John Lennon, after all, and is definitely punching above her weight with Sally. Over time, Liza has encouraged the pair to cut themselves off from family and most friends, banning telephones and even the locking of doors, wanting to keep her girlfriend for herself.

Her behaviour may sound unnecessary, until you consider that Sally receives a late-night call at her place of work, from her ex-girlfriend forcefully begging to have her back.

Things brood for a while, with Liza trying her best to keep things close between her and Sally at a party with Vin and Jamie. Sally gets violently drunk, however, and the following morning a row ensues. When Liza subsequently presents the offending piece of post, the result is not answers but more fighting.

As the couple split, we witness the effect this has on not only Liza, but also her friends Vin and Jamie.

Kanchi Wichmann writes and directs on a budget of apparently £40,000.00. And the film does feel intimate; a labour of love that doesn’t subscribe to conventional expectations. The action meanders largely, exploring the mundanity of the protagonists’ lives to the point where it becomes easy to see how such trivial matters could mushroom into much big issues for them.

I found that the film worked better dramatically upon a second viewing. The first time around, it took some time to form and felt rather directionless for the first hour. But, upon another viewing, it made much more sense in terms of pace and ambience. It doesn’t drag after all: Wichmann’s just intent on telling her story in a considered, intelligent style.

Performances are mostly engaging. The only people who let the side down are more peripheral characters (a couple of dodgy birthday guests; a well-to-do lesbian who’s incensed to find out that her girlfriend is married to a man; random people who I presume are the director’s friends, as they seem to be placed conspicuously for non-speaking cameo roles in scenes throughout).

Still, Juliette Rodrigues’ art direction is very good, conveying an authentic sense of the crude environs these characters inhabit. Sally and Liza’s flat is convincingly fetid; the band’s rehearsals are as dark, dingy and smoke-filled as you’d hope. And the post-punk drone of Sally and Liza’s band stops grating after a while, and becomes more than appropriate: it’s actually good. In a rudimentary way.

There is an earnest bent to some of the mannered dramatics though, that keep BREAK MY FALL from approaching entertainment at times. Wichmann may well argue that that’s the point: it would be exploitative to examine the breakdown of these characters for pleasure, right? But this is a film at the end of the day. And, as competent as it is, it’s quite an oppressive one in terms of offering glimmers of hope.

Overall though, I enjoyed BREAK MY FALL. Twice. It’s an interesting take on a break-up and how it affects a small circle of friends. It doesn’t offer giggles, but then it doesn’t offer Vince Vaughan or Jennifer Aniston either. Thank fuck. But it does offer what seems to be an authentic insight into a certain way of life, and a theme of characters searching for normalcy ... whatever that is.

Peccadillo is releasing the film onto UK DVD. This early screener DVD gave little away in terms of specifications, although it did reveal a clean, relatively sharp and colourful 16x9 transfer with good English 2.0 audio. I expect the eventual retail DVD will only be better.

The review disc had no menus or extras, but apparently the disc is set to include interviews and a Behind The Scenes segment as extras.

BREAK MY FALL is a sombre look at universal themes within the confines of a gay community. It doesn’t really go anywhere, but offers some decent performances and observations along the way regardless.

By Stuart Willis


 
Released by Peccadillo Pictures
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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