Reviews

I was compelled by the premise of Mourning after Mirabelle because it asks important questions about friendship, loss and memory. "What does it mean to be a friend?" is a key theme of the film for me, and that question is certainly worthy of discussion and debate after having seen it. And while the subject matter holds a lot of potential for a really insightful film, my disappointment in watching "Mirabelle" stems from some of the performances, and in particular, the playing of Penelope. Perhaps the script's dialog does not allow for some of the subtlety that a topic like this one so desperately needs. Even so, Penelope's character is overplayed, sometimes to the point of being uncomfortable for me to watch. Still, there are ideas explored here that merit a viewing.

I liked Tree. The production was fairly sophisticated for what appears to be limited resources. I thought the performances were by and large very nice. Always difficult to get good performances out of children as well. Settings and locations were nicely chosen and photographed.

I have two criticisms that detracted somewhat from my overall enjoyment of the film. The first is a longer-than-necessary run time. My personal feeling is that this dogs many an Indy film. I think judicious editing could have kept me more engaged in the story, which, while interesting, is not nuanced enough to deserve a long running time.. The second is the too-dark night shots, which again I see in many low-budget films. A couple of well-placed lights with cookies can do wonders to create a night-time mood, instead of just black/grey, low-contrast darkness filling the frame.

But a commendable effort all in all.