Il colore dei suoi occhi

The coldness of "On My Own" is extraordinary. It is detached without feeling inhuman, depressing without seeming hopeless. The title refers to a much deeper separation than merely physical. This is the only film I've ever seen that so completely gets across the loneliness and confusion of adolescence. Vic Sarin photographs with beautifully dim shadows and natural colours, picking up quite a bit of grain at times, but always feeling pure and human. Antonio Tibaldi directs at a extremely slow pace, allowing for the sort of honesty that only comes in quiet moments. The periodical dreams and hallucinations are breathtaking.

Two performances are the core of "On My Own" - Matthew Ferguson and Judy Davis. Ferguson isn't usually the sort of actor who would impress me, but here, he displays the uncommon honesty of youth that is so often hard to find. Judy Davis, playing (what is for her) another in a long line of mentally unstable roles, is stunning. Or, as the VHS case puts it, "strange and beautiful". She is quite welcome here, providing a solid core to a difficult story.

"On My Own" is only available on video, and I came across it quite by chance at a run-down little store that sells this sort of thing. I had been meaning to see it earlier in the year when I first discovered Judy Davis, but was unable to obtain a copy. If you're wondering whether or not it is worth the purchase, I can certainly recommend it. But only if you can enjoy an extremely slow-paced story.