Piaffe (2022) User Reviews

More intellectual than resonant

[noxus329 · 7/10 · 21 January 2024]

'Piaffe' is Ann Oren's (the director) exploration of what happens when barriers between modes of existence (or our familiarity with them) blur as a result of the world they inhabit. You may not agree with the way she does so here, having a protagonist with a horse's tail growing out of her body. But there is something to be said for how, in the age of the internet, there are practically no defining lines between ideas.

That being said, this movie isn't badly made. It's well-paced, and you can tell that Oren cares about her subject from the way she is invested in it. She fills her movie with subtle hints: the metaphor of ferns; the juxtaposition of light and dark triangles; the sharing of vibrant colors. The title itself, being the name of a style of horse dressage, suggests a sort of liveliness.

However, it focuses more on making its point than on telling a story, and that takes away from its emotional impact. The characters are not so much flesh and blood as part of a larger tapestry. That creates a feel of lacking, because while the movie has a theme, we don't really get a reason to relate to it.

Overall, this movie is not a waste of your time but isn't exactly resonant either. It's simply there, if you can believe it. You may find the content disturbing, but I assure you that's not Oren's intention.

Millennial self-indulgence

[ricarsarav · 1/10 · 3 December 2023]

This is yet another fetishistic project from yet another artist wannabe (read, maladapted person), that wants to take herself very seriously. It's another millennial "proposal", therefore, soulless, empty, futile, which leaves you with a deep sense of having not only lost your time but an opportunity for understanding reality better through metaphor. There is no identification with the main character, and indeed pushes an array of characters that can be situated outside of reality and, indeed, society, with which only freaks can relate to. There is absolutely nothing to take from this, no redeeming quality whatsoever. Watch it...if you want to waste your time and feed the morbid pleasure of this "director" to pull you into her game.