Review of Medicine for Melancholy (2009) by Chris Z — 28 Dec 2009

Not a polished film, has some ragged edges, but there is just so much excellence to love about this movie. Wyatt Cenac is exceptional, and the girl came into her own as well. Early on, I didn't care for her acting, but as her character changed, I felt it fit her personality better, and it worked a lot more. The premise is the morning after a drunken one-night stand, which is the vehicle for an exploration of race and class in SF, dating across races, and about the larger question of smart/educated late-twenty-somethings still lost and unsure in their lives, hence the medicine for melancholy title. It hits the melancholic mood and tone of the situation beautifully, the characters and story are handled with surprising maturity, and the complexity of emotions, particularly hers (but his too) is handled wonderfully.

I had a hard time adjusting to the visual style of this movie, which was heavily desaturated (almost B&W) video. I thought the desaturated look worked, but the video work(technically) was really crummy looking, lots of clipped highlights which then looked like they were blown out on film on top of that, it's hard to say how this ended up printed. It also appears like the DVD is a transfer of 35mm, rather than a direct port of the digital source, and it looks really bad. It also seemed like it was filmed with pretty much natural light only, and it felt pretty rough. I'm sure this was super low-budget, but I would loved to have seen this look pulled off well, with better technique and equipment, because I think the bleak drab look, even with the kind of blinding and alienating blown out highlights could have been really interesting, but as it stands it looks more like a super low-budget shoot that makes the engineer in me cringe with almost every shot. I can only imagine what this would look like on a scope, it would be pretty hideous. :/.