Florian Habicht is a New Zealand filmmaker (clearly with German parentage, from all the Skype chats with his father in German that he undertakes whilst in the bath. I’m not sure why in the bath, but he is. A lot) who is in New York and wants to film a Love Story. He meets a beautiful woman with a piece of cake on a subway and then follows her, filming her, and asking the general public around New York to help him create the next step.
I really liked this concept – using a variety of people to create an artwork. Random and conceptual. I’m not convinced that a feature film was necessary the strongest way to use the concept, but it worked well at times.
However, the nest step was to blur the lines between the concept and the reality. The love interest was an actress who has no interest in Florian, yet apparently he feels there is a spark. I did not connect with Florian enough to feel any sympathy for his possibly broken heart. I also wondered exactly what had happened. Was there ever a woman with a piece of cake? To me, I wanted there to be. I wanted to believe. But then I felt like I was being fooled. And I didn’t like it.
It will be worth keeping an eye on Habicht. Whilst I don’t think this piece was as strong as it could have been, I think he may go on to do some interesting things in his career.
ireckonthat 