Open – Review
119 Minutes, Not Rated
Written by Miles Doleac and Lindsay Anne Williams
Directed by Miles Doleac
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
A woman in a troubled marriage falls for a former teen heartthrob, who’s fallen from industry favor, while having nagging (and empowering) hallucinations about fronting an 80’s New Wave Band.
I spoke with writer/director Miles Doleac back in May and we discussed Open as much as we could without me having seen it.
There is a lot going on in here, so let me see if I can sum it up in some general ways for you:
– a marriage, not on the rocks, but not on the freeway, either.
– an unconventional bit of therapy for said marriage.
– a glimpse into the psyche of childhood crushes
– abandoned dreams and their fallout
– obsession, but not in the way you might think
This film is not going to be for everyone. The structure of its otherwise conventional story will challenge some audience members, but it’s the introduction of Kristina’s musical dreams that might turn people off.
Luckily, the film doesn’t take those parts too seriously, as the clearly tongue-in-cheek lyrics illustrate, as do the various 80s-incarnate music video set pieces.
And they absolutely channel the feel of those early music video days nicely, by the way. They really do.
It’s no secret that I’m not a huge musical fan, so if I can get through this one with even a modicum of enjoyment, then so can you… and I certainly fell somewhere above “modicum,” so take that for what it’s worth, I suppose.
The narrative develops in such a way that the final act feels deserved, and Jeremy London turns in a fine performance as the washed-up star (and former target of Kristina’s fangirl period).
Doleac, working with some of his friends during the Covid unpleasantness, has crafted a film that is as much about the fun they had making it as it is the desperation and pain of it’s many characters.
The performances are solid, with London and Williams being the standouts.
While not for everyone, Open is certainly worth a watch for fans of musicals and for those with a penchant for more challenging bits of cinema.
Open did a brief theatrical run and is now available on digital outlets (including Amazon and Roku). Open stars Miles Doleac, Lindsay Anne Williams, Jeremy London, Elena Sanchez, and William Forsythe.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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