I saw the Alexis Dos Santos film Unmade Beds today @ IFC. This movie has been marked on my MacBook calendar for about 3 months now, and I was psyched to see it the day it opened in NYC. I think the "coming of age" narrative and rock and roll aesthetic drew me in, and I found myself enjoying the film even in the midst of personal chaos. C'est la vie, verdad? (If I could have one wish, I think I'd want to be reduced to the distortion in a No Age or Japandroids song, but that is another story in entirety.)
The film centers on Axl and Vera, Spanish and French respectively, in their early 20's and at loose in London. They cross paths but their inebriated states make their meeting mean less than it might have, so one must ask, do we all miss these potentially important human collisions because of the substances we (ironically) ingest in the mere hope of meeting someone new who could blow our worlds to pieces? This movie makes you think!
Also, film-wise, the movie is great. We get a The Shining garden maze and an Honore-like romanticism of modern urbanity. There's also the Godard spirit of rebellious youth, but it's like all rebellious youth you see today: there is no purpose or goal, just the chic edge of doing it all now and for what? the simple fact that this planet we revolve upon could be blasted into nothingness tomorrow.
Of course you fall in love with Axl for his boyish, sheepish, hair-in-the-brown-eyes quest to find his father, and you fall in love with Vera for her willingness to chase another guy, even if she thinks she's being cautious by refusing to learn his name. The Dos Santos shots of her naked body colliding with his tell you, the viewer, otherwise. Names do not make a difference. (Just ask Juliet. What's in a name?)
So love, and love without abandon. Be safe!
