Review Draft- Emma Robertson

Here is a rough draft of the review! Only a couple of hundred words to go!

Joanna White captures an original and believable hormonal teenaged romance, but concentrates on the depressing side of life. So much for reminiscing the celebration of being young! Whilst the tagline ‘The Boy. The Girl. The Letter’ doesn’t leave much to the imagination, this film is filled with ambition, creativity and authenticity. White displays an impressive array of ideas, which is somehow matched by All my love’s visual beauty and narrative ingenuity.

The story is based on a teenaged girl (Amie Nelms) who reads a letter from ex-boyfriend (Richard Franklin). She’s overwhelmed by latent grief and emotional distress whilst accompanied by his haunting presence. As the film unfolds, Amie moves through poignant moments of anger, frustration and sadness to reflect on her loss. We see Amie finally break through these emotional strains and decides to move on from their failed relationship.

Despite the Jeremy Kyle inspired plot, some painstakingly long takes dwell on Amie’s fragility of being alone and accepting her single status. The rich black and white cinematography seems partly clichéd in its symbolic pessimistic values, but an expressionistic aura allows the mysterious enjoyment of certain glumness.

Franklin’s performance is mainly reflected through his emotive dialogue, expressing his regret and misfortune. However, this vague narrative device creates confusion on his unnoticed identity. “I know that my death will have done this,” sulks Rich whilst trying to comfort his girl- hard task when you’re a ghost! His cause of death remains a mystery, but no need to bother Sherlock Holmes, Amie seems content by her loss.

Whereas, Nelms’ performance gets overshadowed by Franklins’, she stands on her ground and contributes this affectionate slow paced drama. The iconic extreme long shot of Amie walking into the far distance symbolises the triumphs of female empowerment. All of the single ladies would proud of this wise move.

The fading in of colour breaths life into All my love’s visuals and satisfies the audience with some sort of closure.

White describes her film as a ‘wonderful breath of fresh air,’ we have to agree as

Emma Robertson