Credits: Jessica R., Alice K., Liz K., and Ji Y-S.
Perhaps more than any other production in our festival, the makers of this film recognized the limitations of the project (handheld cameras, the difficulty of capturing sound, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to (Ignore that last, pretentious reference to Hamlet)) and found a way to transcend them. It's also the only film in which the creators do not appear. So Close Yet So Far is a Boy Meets Girl, Girl Falls in Love with Boy, Boy Ignores Girl, Boy Fails a Math Test and Gets Tutored By Girl, Boy Falls in Love with Girl kind of story.
HIGHS: The film relies completely on visuals and its wonderful soundtrack to carry the story: there's no dialogue whatsoever and yet it works brilliantly; the Boy (Jeremiah) and Girl (Joanne) have excellent camera presence; the strangely disturbing yet effective transition from the inside of Joanne's head to what's "on her mind": Jeremiah; no irony, no sarcasm, just some refreshing good old-fashioned sweetness; the allusion to Chungking Express where Joanne dances outside Jeremiah's locker to California Dreamin'.
LOWS: Some rough music edits, but still an impressive production for a group with almost no iMovie editing experience when the project began! And where was Ji during the editing process?
THE ENVELOPE PLEASE: this film gets the Baby Daz for best use of music to set the mood and best use of Jeremiah (I don't know what that means).
