An Independent Movie About A Young Artist
Video Essays
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6m 21s
A young artist struggles to make a movie about a young artist who struggles to make a movie. Zenzelé Soa-Clarke directs and stars in “An Independent Movie About a Young Artist,” a meta breakdown on the tropes of slice-of-life indie filmmaking (“mumblecore, character driven, all the shit”), and an attempt to write her own film of the sort. In a self-reflective brainstorming session, she insists her film will be about finding yourself and fulfilling your potential. Hooking up with someone local while dreaming of the big city. An uninterrupted shot of a depressed protagonist sitting in bed eating cereal. That kind of thing. But as Soa-Clarke pokes fun, her spitballing bounces off her personality in compelling ways making the generic feel specific — her performance nicely balances the cynical with the earnest. A film about the struggle to create and how to define yourself by that creativity, it manages a light touch with a wry, low-key style, i.e. frames within frames, split screens, and screen shots, “all the shit.”
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