Review of Fairhaven

Fairhaven (2012)
6/10
Beautifully Made but Incomplete
24 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
You know, it isn't easy to make a good movie. To begin with, I believe you need a good script. That is to say, in my mind at least, the story has to be complete. You can have great acting, great direction, great film making and yet, because of the script itself, it's literary values, the film isn't complete. The story isn't complete.

That is the case with this movie. (Spoiler Alert) Two of three main characters are released, so to speak, from their torment. The third character, the one played by Messina: we don't really know what happens to him. He goes back into the oblivion.

These are my film aesthetics: the viewers need to have the complete story. It's fine if a character doesn't come to terms with his life, but we want to know how. Messina's character has screwed up his life. He's run away from a tough situation with a woman he loved and he has refused to understand his parents. His girl has found another guy. His life has been emptied out. But the movie leaves him pretty much where it found him, except now he most likely knows he has screwed up. It's not enough.

I obviously hate it when filmmakers leave things hanging. I really believe there's a laziness to it. If they can't complete the story they shouldn't make the film.
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