Amelia and Michael

A British businessman sees his wife off to work, but she removes her wedding band as soon as she's out of the car and he makes arrangements for a rendezvous with another woman once he arrives at his office. Short film from director Daniel Cormack (who also co-produced) and writer Stephen Betts is a smoothly-orchestrated character study which manages to say a lot (mostly in visual terms) within a 10-minute span. The clear, precise cinematography from Merritt Gold, Gareth Davies' editing, and Nick Loe's portentous score are each commendable, and the finale is an interesting bluff that keeps us wondering. Does the man or his wife suspect the other of infidelity...and does it really matter in the scheme of things, in the context of harsh reality? An intriguing piece of work.

When is an eleven minute film far too long? When it doesn't go anyplace. This short subject about the masked, empty, unhappy, luxurious lives of two rich people has all of its technical issues sorted away properly -- the cinematography is excellent, although there is one mismatched shot towards the end; check the biker next to the limo -- but all we have is a brief exposition of the state of the their lives. She is having an affair. He goes to hotels and has sex with hookers, so they are even there. However, someone she cares about (a brother?) is in a coma and dies, so she wins.

And that is why this film is essentially a bore. It is not a moving picture. There is no plot, no real change and nothing moves except arms and legs. It is an eleven minute portrait of two uninteresting people.

When I am caught up in a movie, I don't notice the camera-work or the mismatched shots. I am not afflicted with a sense of impatience for the film makers to get on with it, nor wonder who sleeps in a hotel robe. This movie is as uninvolving as the the marriage it depicts. If they can't be bothered to care, why should I?

In London, the executive Michael (Anthony Head) and his wife Amelia (Natasha Powell) have successful upper class lifestyle, living in a comfortable house, having a fancy car with driver and showing a great respect and affection to each other. However, Amelia has a lover in coma in the hospital, and she frequently visits him and pays the expenses of his treatment. While traveling to Milan in a business trip, Michael has one night stand with an escort girl. Amelia receives a phone call, and when she arrives in the hospital, she realizes that her lover has died. When Michael returns from Milan, their lives return to their hypocrite routine.

"Amelia and Michael" has only 10 minutes running time, but director Daniel Cormack is able to perfectly compile and disclose the masks of the wasted relationships in his short. The tight and sharp screenplay uses ellipsis to unravel the hypocrite and accommodated relationship of a middle-aged couple, but unfortunately it is not possible to develop how their affective lives have become so shallow. I know the actor Anthony Head from Buffy series, and I really liked his performance in a dramatic role. Natasha Powell is unknown for me, but has also a great performance. The stylish cinematography and lighting are impressive for a low-budget short, and I liked the last scene with the reference of the motorcycle passing by Amelia's car indicating that their lives will remain the same. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

How much do you know about those you should know most about? How much should you know? Do you need to know everything? Amelia and Michael should know everything about each other as they are a prosperous, successful, professional married couple. Yet each keeps a secret from each other in Daniel Cormack's debut film.

Amelia has a devotion to a critically injured young man and she visits him whilst he is lying in a hospital bed. He is hooked up to a life support machine and is still and silent. Who he is we never find out, a lover or male relative perhaps? Michael's secret is more straightforward he lies about a business trip and uses a call girl. He suffers from guilt, she from grief. In the end they confess to each other and have no more secrets. Except that he was called by a colleague when in the hotel room he uses and she casts an eye over a young man who passes by on a motorbike. Does this mean that they are serial offenders? As the viewer we think we know all about them but at the end we can't be sure.

Cormack manages to put this story across in a short space in an economic style which nevertheless packs in lots of information and detail. The viewer is never left to watch too long on one aspect of the film but it never feels like being rushed, the pace is superb.

In his first film Cormack has managed to tell a story well and use his star actor (Anthony Head) well. The technical standard is very high and at no time does it feel like a low budget film. He is obviously a talent to watch out for in future.

If I'm going to be frank, I found the story of Amelia and Michael just a little bit on the dreary and depressing side for my liking: an affluent married couple's relationship is on the verge of collapse, the wife (Natasha Powell) sneaking off to visit her motorcycle-riding bit of rough on the side, who is in intensive care after an accident, and the husband (Anthony Head) indulging in a spot of hanky-panky with a high class escort girl. Told at an extremely leisurely pace by director Daniel Cormack, this brief insight into a private world of secrecy and lies is very low on the feel-good factor: after eleven minutes, nothing has been resolved, leaving this particular viewer feeling a tad morose.

But although this low-key character study could never be described as cheery, Cormack's keen understanding of his medium still makes this a worthwhile watch, especially for those interested in the technical aspects of film: from careful shot composition and camera placement, to precise editing, to considered use of music and subtle lighting, this is a highly accomplished piece of movie-making in almost every department.

Take the opening shot, for example, which has Cormack's characters sat at either edge of the screen with nothing much happening in the middle; at first I had this down as sloppy framing, but felt a bit of a twit once it became clear that the space between characters was not a clumsy mistake but rather a clever metaphor for how husband and wife have become emotionally detached from each other (the same trick is used as the couple get ready to go to bed). This level of visual acuity can be found throughout Amelia and Michael: the potentially sensational material—the sex and death—is dealt with sensitively using subtle suggestion rather than blatant imagery; Michael's regret is powerfully handled in a tightly edited sequence that sees him unable to sleep in the bed in which his act of infidelity took place; and muted colours reflect the monotony of the situation while a neat cyclical narrative device—the appearance of a motorcyclist—effectively conveys hopelessness.