"Helen" is the tragic story of one orphan girl's attempts to carve out an identity for herself whilst helping to find another lost soul
When thinking about what to review a lot of thoughts swirl round the mind. The mind fills with adjectives, hyperbole and sometimes frustration. So with all three bubbling away nicely in the review cauldron, I add a final ingredient - recognition. I tend to cast my net wide in the film reviewing sea - I will look at Hollywood blockbusters, foreign classics and the small hidden gems that so very few see. So when this review began I thought to myself what film have most people not heard of let alone seen? As I got half way through that Avatar review I thought to myself this is far too obtuse a movie to review, and scrapped it for Helen.
Now I have used this word before and I will use it again for Helen, that word being whimsical. But Helen is not your traditional type of whimsy fare, the whimsy of Helen is very much dark and brooding. As you watch Helen a sense of unease and trepidation begins to fill you up, taunting you with its ethereal dark heart. With Helen you are very much thrown into the proverbial deep end, as you are introduced to lingering shots of a police tape draped across a wooded area. Police are hunched over methodically stepping over areas in search of something. A haunting yellow jacket lying crumpled in a heap in the dirt is given to the viewer as their final puzzle piece. A piece to a puzzle that the audience will only be able to complete on their own.
Helen never spoon feeds the viewer. It chills by showing you very little. This can easily be a negative if the director(s) of a film lacks confidence and control in his or her work. A viewer for example could be left to interpret what an albino rat in a desert represents or even what a pug in a wig signifies. For the majority of the time they mean nothing, it is predominantly the director trying to be arty or funny. But in Helen a lot of the frames and cryptic images have power and meaning behind them. Now I cannot say that Helen is flawless, because for me it has a few minor irks that stop it getting the full star rating, but the performance of Annie Townsend is fantastic. It's a subdued and relaxed performance, one you would expect from a veteran not a debuting actress. The way in which Annie Townsend floats through the scenes disjoints your preconceived ideas. This young girl has been asked to take part in a reconstruction of a girl's disappearance; a girl she knew, surely she should be riddled with anxiety? But she has this calm reserve to her performance that is quite haunting, and as the story begins to unwind the level of unease slowly creeps up. But you are never at such a state of unease that you want to look away. Look away and you may miss that one little clue or direction that just cements your scrambled thoughts and ideas into a nice tangible clear package. I am not going to reveal too much by saying if all questions you may have amassed are answered, but I will say that it did end well for me personally. Unfortunately the performance of Annie Townsend is not reflected all the way through the cast.
There are a number of performances that are a bit questionable or lackluster and a few scenes suffer as a result. But if we are going with a mathematical equation of sorts I would say for every five scenes at least three of them are good, with the remaining two being interesting but slightly lacking. But as it is a debut feature from Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy I wasn't expecting perfection just promise. And enthusiastic promise I received. I am very excited to see what they are capable of doing next, because over time little imperfections will be ironed out, their writing will get stronger and hopefully budgets get gradually bigger. And if their recognition grows with any success they may have, hopefully budding fans/filmmakers take the time to visit or should that be revisit Helen.
I discovered Helen when I was scouring the year end list of critics and movie sites, and as a result I paid close to full price for this. Thankfully the price has dropped significantly and Helen can be found and bought on mass with a wave of impulse buys. A little gem for less than a fiver, not bad at all...
We will publish your review of Helen [2008] on DVD within a few days as long as it meets our guidelines.
None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
Irish drama exploring teenage identity. 18-year-old Helen (Annie Townsend) is asked to play a missing girl, Joy, in a police reconstruction tracing her last known movements. Joy had everything that Helen longs for - a loving family, a boyfriend and a bright future - compared with Helen's own troubled and lonely past spent in care institutions. Over time, Helen begins to immerse herself in the role of Joy, ingratiating herself into the lost girl's family, wearing her clothes and even attempting to seduce her boyfriend.
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy
