Between

Robert Nelms and Director David Ocanas have penned what was referred to at Sundance as a "metaphysical thriller." It almost works. The movie begins with a mysterious sequence of a woman seen only by her bare feet walking along a sidewalk in a Mexican city. Shortly thereafter, we are introduced to Nadine James, an attorney who soon learns that her sister is missing in Tijuana.

Although they were not close, Nadine is haunted by dreams of her sister, and immediately heads for Tijuana to try to find her. But it quickly becomes clear that what we are experiencing is not the linear and tangible reality we are all accustomed to. Dream-like sequences come and go. Events are repeated, but not exactly. Nadine runs into Kafkaesque characters in an Alice in Wonderland setting. On one level, she is playing the role of a detective, trying to unravel a mystery. But on another, she is clearly battling her own demons and trying to decipher the meaning of her own psychological flailings.

You get the feeling that Ocanas is attempting to follow the success of M. Night Shyamalan. But there are too many flaws in the script; too many contrivances. The tension drags on without building to a climax. Some of the clues are too obvious, and some absolutely elusive. Having said all that, I believe that thrillers need to play by a simple rule: At the end of the film, do I realize that I could have figured it out if I had been sufficiently smart and observant? And to be fair, Between passed this litmus test.

As an aside, at Sundance I sat next to the producer of the movie at its world premiere. He was coming out of his seat in excitement. (That's a great part of the fun at Sundance. There is so much anticipation and enthusiasm accompanying each movie.) Turns out I was right in the midst of the cast and crew. For many of them, including Ocanas, it was their first feature-length film. To their credit, this was an ambitious maiden voyage.

Between was one of the better, more intriguing films I saw at Sundance. I love that it was shot in a place I was not familiar with. It's filled with characters you don't often see in American films. Visually it was beautifully shot. I was surprised to find out it was shot on high definition.

Between takes place in Tijuana, Mexico. It's about an American woman who goes to Tijuana to look for her lost sister. I thought initially the film got off to a slow start but it still kept me interested. After about 15 minutes into the film, I overheard a woman who sat next to me ask her friend "Where is this going?" And that is what intrigued me about Between, trying to figure out what is happening. I love the ending (I won't give it away). In the Q&A, someone asked about an optional ending. The director said they considered a different ending but the one they chose was the most honest choice. I agree. Well worth a watch. Though I do think the first half of the film could have its pace picked up a bit.

It is truly amazing that, a film as horrific as BETWEEN even gets accepted into a prestige festival such as Sundance. I am not mad at the director for making such a poorly produced feature (even though he owes me $10 and 2 hours of my life), I am confounded how this movie made it past the Sundance judges. There is NO doubt that it is who you know at Sundance.

Before the movie began at the Echols Center at Park City, I knew I was in trouble: the director steps up to the podium then tells the audience this: "Folks, you are going to see a movie with a lot of twists and turns. Please, stay with it, as I promise you, the BIG twist ending is something you will love!" I mean, how dumb was that? Not only was he telling us the movie has a big twist, he was also trying to justify the weakness of the film's story-telling, that we must "hang in there". Bad start.

The film itself is a monotonous thriller about a girl whose sister is missing in Tijuana. THe girl goes to Mexico in hopes to find her sister.

The movie's title is a dead giveaway of "the twist" after watching 20 minutes of this film. Also, a deposition scene gives the movie away BIG TIME. You HOPE you are being led down a different path, ie, the recent SAW or even SIXTH SENSE for that matter, but no, you are not. You are spoon fed the entire movie within 30 minutes. And, for all of you stupid people out there, there are even force fed FLASHBACKS just in case you didn't get what was happening.

THe group I was with were constantly looking at their watches. Even a bunch of people got up and walked out.

DO NOT waste your life or $$ with this film.

On the other hand, the short film MOTEL that preceded BETWEEN was one of the best shorts I have ever seen. Now the guy who directed this DESERVES to work in this town. I would hope that the director of BETWEEN would give him $9.99 from the $10 I gave to him.

Director David Ocañas and co-writer Robert Nelms have made possible a somewhat simple and straightforward metaphysical film. Simple as it could have been, the plot is made unnecessarily complicated for the sake of dramatic and suspensive effects. There is a handful of psycho-philosophical ideas but not many well-developed. Yet, the movie is successful to some extent. Still, the film hangs from a thread so delicate like that of a ripen apple on a tree.

What is someone thinking when he or she is dying? Without giving up the end of the movie which in reality, as in unfinished dreams, paradoxically starts where it begins, David Ocañas directs a film which happens to be a somewhat good exercise in the inimitable Alfred Hitchcock classic suspense or the Psycho-liked psychological thrillers. That is how the movie is successful. Not only that, the scriptwriters had in the back of their mind, or perhaps in front of them, the film Six Sense where a child says, "I see death people." Or better yet, the director was supported by the works of the great Czech writer Kafka. This is case of memorable art. But there is also artwork that is like a bad dream and one wants to assure oneself that it never happened. I vividly remember Joseph K., who we know nothing of, who has just come from a distant town to a mysterious and new city in search of something that we, detail by detail, get to know. He has come to let himself in the castle who symbolizes what Between couldn't make justice to– the problem of reality, of death and dying, and of the metaphysical anguish of being alone in this godless world. The city of Tijuana and its visitors are a bad parody of The Castle.

Further, I believe that directors like Hitchcock or the Wachowski brothers can be –almost– imitated by good film maker. But it is a desperate and overwhelming task that of imitating great literature in cinematographic scenes. And everything is worth seeing in Between. We can see, for example, that literature is insuperable and that films are for entertainment. Even well-intentioned films can't portray what good literature portraits: men and women caught between one thing or another, whether it is human emotions or the never ending problem between the divine and human, reality and dreams, good and evil, innocence and guilt.

Despite its shortcomings, could I say that I like it? The movie tries to depict life after death, or between here and there. A movie like Between makes a serious theme like the after death experience a common place and makes it no more than forgettable entertainment. Did I like Between because the movie beings where it ends, with a barefooted woman, walking towards her immortality? After this scene, the mystery supposedly begins: there is a woman who when either when alive had an identity problem or is dreaming all the scenes while agonizing. Is there anything new in having a woman go on a journey (in real life, she wouldn't make too far into the city of Tijuana without falling prey to the real demons surrounding big and furious cities) looking for a sister whom, according to clues in form of clichés, does not exist. From the beginning I suspected that she only exists in the mysterious visions of the dying woman.

Dreams and reality, being caught between death and life, are subjects that need to be taken separately if one is serious enough to examine them. That is not one of the discoveries of Between; it fabricates a mind-twisting mystery, only to unravel it (mysteries that are deep inside ourselves can never be decipher and that is the beautiful human experience) and discover that it was only a psychological break down of a woman near the end of her life.

Also, the reality in Tijuana is not what is being portrayed in Between. What is a beautiful woman doing in a desert almost without being noticed, first wearing a plain white dress and after that wearing a plain red dress? We all know that it can only happens in dreams. But good movies who play with black and color, with dreams and reality, are successful at making the dreams seem real, so that one is almost certain that the dream is as true as reality seems to be.

As a psychological film, Between wouldn't even had made Freud proud. Is the meaning of death deciphered by having dreams or visions –and revisions– of a lost sister? I think this phenomenon should now be called the Sister-complex. In contrast the Matrix, even when it felt short of being aesthetic acceptable –great works of art imitate nature and not machines– was much more accurate than what Between tried to depict. Between is a theory that never let us see any evidence to support the claim that dreams, and mind-made mysteries are part of the dying experience. On the other hand, Between would have sadden the french philosopher Descartes who claimed that the mind can live without the mind.

When it comes to sound and picture, I can say that all was astonishing. In most movies there is no suspense without sounds. These tricks benefited this film. I dare to say, after all, that I liked the clues that keep the moviegoer wondering. First it is Valentines' day. There is a letter found inside the zinc pipe. A bus and collection of clocks, repetition of phrases and scenes. And there is the woman-Oracle, who is directly taken from The Matrix.

I believe that the greatest achievement of this movie is its impeccable déjà Vu. It reminded me of all good and bad movies I have ever seen. Perhaps that is a good thing. And in the mind of moviegoer, Between will soon be nothing else but a pleasant déjà Vu.

A Standing Ovation for "BETWEEN" This is note from the Producers of BETWEEN: BETWEEN had the honor of being an Official Selection in the Dramatic Competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival (and as an additional complement to the film, BETWEEN was also selected as a Slamdance 2005 Dramatic Competition film. With all due respect to the Slamdance Film Festival, we chose Sundance.) The First Editor's cut (90 minutes) of BETWEEN screened at 2005 Sundance -- Due to the short time between the end of shoot, Sundance submission and its acceptance, this first cut was edited in less than 24 days and music done in two weeks.

Returning to Los Angeles after Sundance, the director and the producing team worked for the next seven months to complete BETWEEN. During this time, the team conducted three research/test screenings; using each screening to provide producers with valuable input from diverse audience members to consider during the ongoing edit, music and sound work. BETWEEN also hired a very talented up-and-coming composer (who counts I AM SAM, NINE WEEKS, SHREK, among others to his credit) to create a superb score which continually elicits very strong audience response and has received the BEST SCORE at a film festival. BETWEEN has also garnered a BEST DIRECTOR award. Similarly, POPPY MONTGOMERY has consistently received amazing and well-deserved praise from audiences for her role in the completed film.

BETWEEN was completed in August 2005. The producers screened the completed BETWEEN in New York in August 2005 to very enthusiastic audience response, of which one viewer exclaimed " It's thinking man's SIXTH SENSE." One week later, BETWEEN screened to multi-generational (audience members ranged from late teens to early 70's) "average" American audience in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. From this type of crowd that tends toward more mainstream pictures, BETWEEN received a STANDING OVATION! To learn more about BETWEEN, please visit www.BetweenTheMovie.com, to view the latest Trailer, a Los Angeles Festival Audience Response clip and other film information and updates. We hope this answers questions we have received from many throughout the country.

We sincerely thank the hundreds of audience members who have shared their positive comments, their enthusiasm, have provoked insightful conversation, have generated a great word of mouth and expressed their strong support for this unique and provocative thriller -- truly this film has "touched a nerve". And, we are excited knowing that we are on our way to sharing the BETWEEN experience with many more.

Sincerely, Producers of BETWEEN