I caught this movie on Film Skillet last week and while it had a few great things going for it there is definitely room for improvement for this filmmaker. It's a good watch for anyone interested in super independent films made without budgets or stars, but I would not recommend it for the average movie watcher.
What it has going for it is the concept is interesting, some of the shots were great, and the editing was pretty good. By using stock footage the filmmaker believably created that the beginning of the story was shot in Hawaii (which I am pretty sure it was not).
But while the concept was interesting the execution of the script could have had room for improvement. The set up was good and so was the immediate aftermath, but sometime during the second half of the story it falls apart.
The film is billed as science fiction but that seemed to be lacking as their was no scientific explanation as to what happened to our main character. There was only an eclectic conversation with a college professor and quick cuts to math equations written on the wall. Something was implied but it could have been expressed in a much better way.
A huge plot point close to the end shows the main character meeting a private investigator that we have not seen before (this character is also the ultimate PI cliché and that's not a good thing). The PI tells her to go to the area where her missing fiancé grew up to find him. This scene connects the middle of the story to the ending, but it would have been much more satisfying to see the protagonist arrive to this conclusion on her own.
The other issue I has with this film was the casting. Matthew Krob was miscast as Allie's husband. He's a leading, ladies man. That's not a slight on his acting, he was just miscast.
I think this movie showed that the filmmaker has potential to tell great stories. Eric Norcross know how to make a small budget look bigger with photography, editing, and his use of music. But he needs to work on his casting abilities, because that was one of the larger problems with 'Lipstick Lies'. And if he is going to keep on writing his own material then he needs to spend more time developing his scripts into solid story structures.
If he can improve his work then there is a bright future for him.
What it has going for it is the concept is interesting, some of the shots were great, and the editing was pretty good. By using stock footage the filmmaker believably created that the beginning of the story was shot in Hawaii (which I am pretty sure it was not).
But while the concept was interesting the execution of the script could have had room for improvement. The set up was good and so was the immediate aftermath, but sometime during the second half of the story it falls apart.
The film is billed as science fiction but that seemed to be lacking as their was no scientific explanation as to what happened to our main character. There was only an eclectic conversation with a college professor and quick cuts to math equations written on the wall. Something was implied but it could have been expressed in a much better way.
A huge plot point close to the end shows the main character meeting a private investigator that we have not seen before (this character is also the ultimate PI cliché and that's not a good thing). The PI tells her to go to the area where her missing fiancé grew up to find him. This scene connects the middle of the story to the ending, but it would have been much more satisfying to see the protagonist arrive to this conclusion on her own.
The other issue I has with this film was the casting. Matthew Krob was miscast as Allie's husband. He's a leading, ladies man. That's not a slight on his acting, he was just miscast.
I think this movie showed that the filmmaker has potential to tell great stories. Eric Norcross know how to make a small budget look bigger with photography, editing, and his use of music. But he needs to work on his casting abilities, because that was one of the larger problems with 'Lipstick Lies'. And if he is going to keep on writing his own material then he needs to spend more time developing his scripts into solid story structures.
If he can improve his work then there is a bright future for him.
