Let's first get this out of the way, a young black writer and director, making a 'docu-drama- about gentrification, in London, in 2017...I mean, it ticks all the boxes, right? It would be almost impossible not to be moved by this film. And yet...A Moving Image left me with that cringey feeling of watching an experimental student film written by a person completely unable to connect with human emotions. The film relies on its lead actress Tanya Fear, but never really makes you care about her. Knowing he was onto a winner with the whole gentrification thing, whoever made this film seemed to have decided halfway through it that she needed to have some feelings and relationships so cooked up a couple of love interests and a squabble with her best friend that could only have been written by someone who doesn't know women that well. So, if we ignore the drama and focus on the 'docu,' what do we have? A half-finished look at gentrification in Brixton. It could be argued that apart from the real-life guy with the loudspeaker, everyone, like the Ethiopian woman in the tea room, has kind of gentrified already in their own way. There's an obvious lack of Caribbean influence and ownership in the film, which arguably was there before the filmmaker even arrived in the area himself. When you add the embarrassing dance moments, you leave the cinema feeling that, yes, you've ticked the boxes and watched an "important film" for 2017, but was it any good? Ehh. And did you enjoy it? Nah.
