(Short)
Rating:
Director: Allan Brocka
Writer: Allan Brocka
Director of Photography: Lisa Wiegand
Cast: Vickie Rabjohn, Christopher Bradley, Mink Stole
Format: 16mm
| ROBERTA LOVED (Short) Rating: Director: Allan Brocka Writer: Allan Brocka Director of Photography: Lisa Wiegand Cast: Vickie Rabjohn, Christopher Bradley, Mink Stole Format: 16mm |
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Review by: Warren
Curry
3/11/02
A dark, moody and moving drama. Allan Brocka's Roberta Loved is a powerful film that manages to evoke more grounded emotion in 25 minutes than most movies can accomplish in 2 hours. The work's power comes from a place of honesty, and the characters are confidently left bare allowing the audience to view them in an intensely raw state.
Roberta (Vickie Rabjohn) is a 350-pound secretary who one day is laid off from her job. While walking home the woman collapses, and quickly finds herself lying in bed strapped to an I.V. Roberta has been diagnosed with cancer and convinces her doctor to lend his help in permanently ending her misery. So sad is Roberta's life that when she calls her mother, who lives in a nursing home, the older woman isn't willing or able to acknowledge the existence of this person as her child.
The night before her planned death, Roberta seeks to fulfill one final desire. She responds to an ad for a male escort and is subsequently visited by Kevin (Christopher Bradley). Christopher has a wealth of his own personal baggage, including routine physical abuse from his boyfriend. The alienated individuals seem pre-destined to be linked in this one final desperate encounter.
Brocka never resorts to insincere narrative devices to make his characters more appealing. He bravely lets them sink or swim on their own merits. The film intercuts Roberta and Kevin's stories, which makes each of their respective pain more immediate. The characters aren't constructed in a traditional sense to elicit sympathy. They are simply despondent individuals, and the audience can view them as they see fit. The young director's bold approach and absolute command of his material is exceedingly impressive.
Roberta Loved
is the kind of work that makes you feel without forcing itself
on you. Brocka knows his characters well enough to give them their
own space, and the payoff is enormous. A rich, rewarding work
that indicates the emergence of a unique filmmaking talent --
please take note.
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