Contentious films have a tendency to be contentious as a result of having something interesting, but unpopular, to say. Such is the case with Jason Banker’s Felt. Having had an equal share of laudations and condemnation, Felt clearly strikes a nerve worth talking about in the ongoing dialogue of bringing feminist rhetoric to a traditionally male-dominated popular culture. Unfortunately, the limitations of Banker’s style hinder Felt’s conceptual weight. Part-autobiographical and part dark fantasy, Felt follows Amy, a fictionalized version of lead actress and co-writer Amy Everson, as she goes through life following an intentionally cryptic experience of sexual assault. Along the way, she meets Kenny (Kentucker Audley), a caring guy with the
…show more content…
While the project initially began with Banker shooting snippets of lead actress and co-writer Amy Everson’s life, it changed along the way into staged scenarios, much in the same way the movie itself switches between the cold realities of Amy’s life and her idealized and fantastical forest excursions. This style of filmmaking has the power to be either compelling or dreadfully drawn-out, and it is a sadness that Felt falls into the latter realm. Scenes seem to go on for hours, in part because the actors desperately try to work with nothing. There are times when this process pays off, such as a captivating little scene in a bar, and times when the audience is desperately waiting for the end to come. The highlight of the film, however, is the character of Amy. The question is not what she does, but why she does it. Throughout the course of the film, interactions with other characters, including a STEM philistine critical of Amy’s art, reveal depths of character and remnants of trauma more telling than any visual depiction of the act itself could ever be. Felt has been described as a horror film but it is more akin to a classic dramatic tragedy, a portrait of a woman broken by trauma in a constant downward spiral that is made all the more chilling by its
While the project initially began with Banker shooting snippets of lead actress and co-writer Amy Everson’s life, it changed along the way into staged scenarios, much in the same way the movie itself switches between the cold realities of Amy’s life and her idealized and fantastical forest excursions. This style of filmmaking has the power to be either compelling or dreadfully drawn-out, and it is a sadness that Felt falls into the latter realm. Scenes seem to go on for hours, in part because the actors desperately try to work with nothing. There are times when this process pays off, such as a captivating little scene in a bar, and times when the audience is desperately waiting for the end to come. The highlight of the film, however, is the character of Amy. The question is not what she does, but why she does it. Throughout the course of the film, interactions with other characters, including a STEM philistine critical of Amy’s art, reveal depths of character and remnants of trauma more telling than any visual depiction of the act itself could ever be. Felt has been described as a horror film but it is more akin to a classic dramatic tragedy, a portrait of a woman broken by trauma in a constant downward spiral that is made all the more chilling by its