I picked up 'Video Diary of a Lost Girl' as a near enough blind buy, quite literally I saw the poster art, watched the trailer that AGFA had cut for this and figured that it must have been an art house Lomography piece combining the 80s 'Dr. Caligari' with the work of 'Tom Rubnitz' This proved not to be the case, but was a quite interesting journey non the less.
The plot follows Louise, a (possible) offspring of Lilith (Adams first wife) after banishment, god cursed Liliths children to bleed uncontrolably to death. Only, they found a way to circumvent that, if they 'feed' (see here: Have sex) with a spawn of adam once every 28 days, they'll stave off the curse and live for another month, if they fail, then their period will start and they'll bleed to death.
Louise has been getting by for the last few hundred years by basically going out to get raped, thinking if she kills a rapist by their own actions. its justified. She's friendless, hates her sisters (who are all quite uppity and see themselves as 'above' humans, even though they need them to live) and she's fairly miserable working in some kind of german expressionist nightmare video store called 'Sinima video'.
That is until Charlie walks through the door, an awkward and egotistical ass of a man, who Louise almost immediately recognises, as back in the 1920's he was the first man she fell in love with and accidentally killed. but now! he's been reincarnated, and the pair slowly begin to fall for each other yet again. But this time Louise is determined to prevent his death...by ANY means necessary.
And...I enjoyed what was here. But its a VERY messy film. While I get that the script is trying for a bit of a woozy vibe, and theres themes and messaging around finding your place in the world, healing from trauma, how love is imperfect and true love can heal. Its a bit all over the place in terms of its execution and how it wants to present those themes.
The pacings quite jumpy, going from slow rolling tension to border jump cutting at times to crash through the 'lore' of this universe as quickly as possible.
The dialogue isnt particularly naturalistic and is at times a bit cringey. But it does have heart behind it which is to be admired. I'd rather a film have some life behind the eyes than just be another roll into the melancholic.
It cant seem to settle on a tone either. For the most part, it's bleak. But then a lot of the scenes in the video store have a kind of acidic snarky 90s sarcasm to them, Charlie as a character is very dry and sarcastic too. But it all feels out of place agains the 'End of Evangelion' style visuals and morose acting of the rest of the cast.
Part of its framed like a kitchen sink drama, part of it is framed as farse...and im not sure which one I should be holding onto as the dominant form here. It means I dont know whether I should be embracing its themes and shades of style, or viewing this with a bit of distance as some kind of 'multi layered' parody of sorts...
Theres a bit of a disconnect on the visuals as well which caused some confusion. Realistically, this story could have been told in the real world...it didnt necessarily *need* the 'Dr. Caligari by way of Eurotrash' Aesthetic to sell me on it. To be completely honest, this whole thing could have been grounded in reality, with the more 'supernatural' moments utilising the Analogue 'video art aesthetic' and it would have worked just as well in my opinion.
Instead, im left in a situation where I found the visuals *largely* appealing. there was some wonderful experimentation on show, some genuinely inspired work that really got me thinking. But then in the same breath. the flip flopping between clean digital footage and analogue video was distracting to me. the aesthetics (outside of the dream sequences or kill scenes which I thought was well utilized) didnt really add anything to the actual plot...Which is a shame as had the visuals had a PURPOSE in relation to the story, I think i'd have gotten on better with it. And the overreliance on clips from public domain movies and references to many MANY other (better in my opinion) movies, was also distracting and, I feel didnt add anything of value to the production.
The cast were a little stiff and awkward, they didnt really seem to know how to hold themselves, or play in front of the camera, there seemed to be an overeliance on nudity (I appreciate its code for vulnerability and 'release'...I just feel it's quite heavy handed) and I wasnt ultimately won over by the portrayals. they lacked depth, complexity or any charictaristics that would really invest me in these characters world.
The score is good! but repetative. Honestly; at this point im still not sure if they just kept looping tracks or if they were variations on a theme. But it all started to sound a bit samey by about half way in which did bring it down a bit for me. What I heard was good! but it would have been nice to have had just a little bit more...
Ultimately; while I did enjoy 'Video Diary of a Lost Girl' I found it to be a flawed production. Heavy handed on it's themes, it seemed to use 'wacky' sets as a contrast to an otherwise dark plotline...and I dont think that was enough really. It felt like I was watching the plot of one film genre play out in the style of another. Like 'What if Scarface was shot like a kids movie...' or something like that...
Its a bit heavy handed, incoherent at times and a bit awkward in places...I didnt like that it traded on 'Analogue' but predominantly the film is 'digital' with heavy analogue filters applied...But contrasting that is some very nice cine and crew direction, a few nicely played out scenes and a half decent soundtrack. Its imperfect. But I could see myself watching this one again...I dont think I could recommend it though.
For a laugh; Double feature this film with 'Penetration Angst' as a 'forbidden fruit' double header. Im sure you'll have a great night...
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/video-diary-of-a-lost-girl/
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