January 12, 2007
Twitch
Afraid of being like mom
Viewers of IFC's popular reality series, "Film School" shall likely be familiar with the name, Leah Meyerhoff.
Out of the three NYU-based filmmakers documented on the aforementioned show, the ten minute Twitch made the biggest impression upon the professors and students, alike.
Perhaps it was not suprising that Twitch became a film festival short hit. Amongst other accolades at smaller fests, the short was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival, as well as the finalist for the 32nd annual Student Academy Awards.
The film goes pretty much along the lines of what the trailer on "Film School" promised. A teenage girl, discontent and angry with being imposed caretaker to her multiple sclerosis-ridden mom, develops hypochondriac symptons.
To imbue a sense of bittersweet pining for a lost childhood that was, quite frankly, all not that great to begin with (in the opening shot, the young girl, then six or seven, prods for her handicapped mother's attention and approval, as she dives into the pool), Meyerhoff shows us a portrait of a young woman who is in desperately in need of space away from her mom, for she has her emotional, adolescent baggage and angst to sort through.
Yet as personal (her real-life mom is casted onscreen here) and well-executed as the story is (the use of the pool in the opening and closing shots as a time-lapse device and the symbolic imagery of porous waters as a much-needed breather from the world itself is eeriely effective), I could not help but feel as if there was too much time and backstory being condensed into a select few frames. Of course, this is a student short film, and so I'll concede that my quibbles should, to a certain extent, be rendered useless in the scheme of things.
Instead, the film sears to life - for this viewer, at least - when the events are situated solely in the here and now. The teenage girl's relationship with her boyfriend is keenly observed. Though the two seem to share an affinity for punk rock attire and eyeliner, they're psychologically worlds apart. She needs a person whom she can confide her inner most fears. The guy, ever oblivious, just wants to concentrate on trying to fuck her.
Meyerhoff reportedly has a feature-length film in the works. Judging by Twitch , Meyerhoff has the talent to rival the likes of Catherine Breillat in her ripe observations regarding the battle of the sexes.
I can only imagine what Armond White would have in store for the up-and-coming Meyerhoff!
