Conversations (2016)
reviewed by Chris Watt
There is something oddly familiar about
THE CONVERSATIONS.
Director Haider Zafar's film, from a script
by co-director Marcus Flemmings, about
a young man with a broken heart, has a
certain kinship with ETERNAL SUNSHINE
OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, even finding the
time for a throwaway reference.
"Erase her from my memory."
"No, that's another movie."
With a wink to the audience as big as that,
you know where you stand, THE
CONVERSATIONS owing a great deal of it's
spirit to the Michel Gondry/ Charlie
Kaufman modern classic, if lacking in the
tight as a drum structural mechanics.
Zafar also plays the lead in his picture, Ali,
a wannabe stand up comedian or "the
funny man, that isn't funny". He's also a
part time dentist, whose attempts to
analyse the memory of his now ex
girlfriend Ellie (Daniella Down), provide the
backbone of the story. Unable to accept
that Ellie is moving back to New York, he's
searching for the meaning behind his
melancholy,
Stylistically, it walks the tight rope,
merging a romantic comedy with
surrealism.
Its an effective visual manifestation of
the inner workings of one persons mind,
with a hefty dose of Mighty Boosh-like
aesthetic thrown in for good measure.
Unfortunately, this is where the
comparison ends, the screenplay unable to
pull off what that particular show was
always best at: being utterly,
unapologetically bonkers!
Some of these flourishes work, don't get
me wrong. Its just that it often throws
you off, aided by an editing style that
makes the whole enterprise a little too TV
sketch show for some tastes.
The films biggest failing, then, is that it