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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 7 September 2015
This a movie review of NINA FOREVER. |
“You’re a bit vanilla,” David (Javan Hurst)
Humour, melancholy and the macabre are comingled to entertaining effect by writer-directors, the Blaine brothers. Grieving and horror and droll observations might have made for an unwieldy composition at best, or tasteless exploitation at worst. The seas of tone have been navigated skilfully, winningly so, as the outcome is far from obvious. Refreshing. Especially in genre's often reluctance/incompetence to do other than telegraph its intentions so far in advance.
Humour, melancholy and the macabre are comingled to entertaining effect by writer-directors, the Blaine brothers. Grieving and horror and droll observations might have made for an unwieldy composition at best, or tasteless exploitation at worst. The seas of tone have been navigated skilfully, winningly so, as the outcome is far from obvious. Refreshing. Especially in genre's often reluctance/incompetence to do other than telegraph its intentions so far in advance.
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A crunching collision is heard first, then a prone biker is seen next to his idling, overturned vehicle. Looking on at what seems to be a countryside road accident, eventually the man gets to his feet. Miraculous escape or re-animation? The former. Parsimony of budget is of no consequence. Whatever resources at the team’s disposal are marshalled to convey their ideas without the whiff of cheapness.
Turns out the biker, Rob (Cian Barry), attempted suicide in the aftermath of his girlfriend's death (the titular Nina). Once a promising PhD maths postgraduate, now stacking shelves in a supermarket, he is a social leper brought on by loss. However, 19-year old paramedic undergraduate, Holly (Abigail Hardingham), working part-time at the same store while at university, finds the idea of a guy unable to live sans partner achingly romantic; and wants to see what being in the sphere of someone that passionate feels like. Crassness is not given off due to the genuineness of the two leads, and the air of gentle sadness. We don't find out anything about Holly's background (one of many choices not pandering to the obvious), and thus making us work a bit harder to fathom her motivation. One is not sure there is enough material to go on, but a minor mystery is better than none.
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Enough time has passed for Rob to begin dating, but not enough to have a healthy outlook (it seems). After a courtship of mutual understanding, and in bed lovemaking, Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy - Jessica Hyde in the magnificent TV show, 'Utopia') appears. Not as some genteel ghostly apparition, Nina crawls out of the mattress and bedding still oozing blood from her car accident wounds that killed her. Her entrance has an ALIEN-chest-burster vibe. Even though presented as over the top gross, Nina is funnily world-weary and charismatic. EXORCIST bile spitting is not her modus operandi. She doesn't want to be there as much as the couple. This is the 2010s, so there is thankfully no ear-piercing screaming. Shock makes way for curiosity and frustration, at Nina's repeated presence through their burgeoning relationship.
Rob and Holly are pretty plain characters, so the filmmakers add the odd bods to satellite around them. Nina is drily amusing, while Rob's weekly visits to Nina's parents, for mutual solace, reveals the mother to have a crush on her ex-future-son-in-law and the dad to be a hilariously awful would-be novelist.
Like the best romances, the ending is not conventional.
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