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Frozen Days
R0 - Australia - Accent Review written by and copyright: Shane Roberts & Noor Razzak (2nd March 2009). |
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The Film
 Meow (Anat Klausner), a homeless young woman and small time drug dealer, spends her time doing the rounds of Tel Aviv’s nightclubs and chatting with strangers online while sleeping in empty apartments. When a meeting with Zero (Pini Tavger), a guy she only knows online, is prevented by a suicide bomber who attacks the club they’re at, Zero is injured and left comatose. After visiting him in hospital and finding out his real name is Alex, Meow moves into his apartment to feel closer to him and to find out more about him. But, when the neighbours start referring to her as Alex she goes along with it and starts to assume his more interesting identity. So, here is another psychological drama/thriller, another predictable twist ending. To think I used to complain that too many films were too predictable because they didn’t have twists. They’re great fun… when they surprise you, so can we have some new ones please? M. Night Shyamalan and "The Sixth Sense" (1999) have a lot to answer for (and no, the ‘surprise’ in this film is not the same, but it’s just as familiar). So far so negative, but as the let down of an ending was the only real disappointment I had with the entire film, I thought I’d get it out of the way and then go on to the praise. That the film got made at all was the first major accomplishment as all the main members of the crew including the writer/director Danny Lerner, and the cinematographer/editor/star Anat Klausner had never made a feature film before and they only had a $25,000 budget. The second accomplishment is that you’d never guess. Lerner’s feature debut is well paced and very well shot in stark noir-ish black and white with one stunning hallucinatory sequence in colour during a pivotal nightclub scene. Most impressive though, especially as she’s in virtually every scene and carries the entire film, is Anat Klausner. She’s outstanding as Meow, whose loneliness and desperate need for more human contact beyond the dealers she works for and the customers she sells to lead her to invade Alex’s life and attempt to claim it as her own. It’s a pity she doesn’t seem to have followed this up with any new roles in the four years since this film was released. Lerner on the other hand has his second film "Kirot" (2009) completed and also shot in Tel Aviv, but this time in English. It’s a "La Femme Nikita" (1990) like thriller about a female assassin staring recent Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. You may guess the ending but it’s still a well directed psychological thriller that will keep you entertained and hold your attention thanks to the great lead performance.
Video
The film is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1, this widescreen transfer is anamorphic and shows off the stark black and white photography rather well with a few problems that tend to plague most ultra low budget films. To start with the film was shot on a digital format, by the looks of it most likely miniDV, this the image is flat and too sharp (leaving jagged lines in most places), the image is clean but the grittiness of black and white is a little lost when it's quite obviously shot on digital. There's some minor edge-enhancement and some darker scenes are a bit too dark making it difficult to make out what's going on. There's some contrast boosting as well, which I noticed and was a bit distracting. Overall it's an average transfer and considering the budget and limitations it's the best you'll likely get.
Audio
The audio is presented in the film's original Hebrew Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. The audio mix is excellent despite it not being a 5.1 track, the dialogue is clear and the film's sound mix works well to immerse the viewer. It's great to hear that although the film's budget was tight, the producer's worked to create an effective soundtrack that doesn't sound cheap and cobbled together. Optional subtitles are included in English.
Extras
The only extras that Accent has included on this disc is a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Pure" which runs for 2 minutes 1 second. - "Dumplings" which runs for 1 minute 38 seconds. - "Day on Fire" which runs for 1 minute 48 seconds. - "Burke & Wills" which runs for 2 minutes. - "One Last Dance" which runs for 2 minutes 17 seconds.
Overall
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