20 September,2024 06:08 PM IST | Mumbai | Johnson Thomas
Stills from the movie First Love
"First Love" is a sincere but rather mundane romance sutured into a story about how capitalism has failed American middle-class families. This film is written and directed by A.J. Edwards, better referenced as being a protege of filmmaker spiritualist Terrence Malick. This third effort by him is a drama that lacks emotion and weighty byplay.
Set during George Bush's second term in the Oval office, in the aftermath of the financial collapse of late 2008, the narrative highlights the trials faced by one American family, the Albrights, who are now finding it difficult to readjust to drastically reduced economic prospects. The father, Greg (Jeffrey Donovan), gets laid off from a high-paying job in the financial sector and is unable to face the fact that he may never earn that kind of money ever again. His wife Kay (Diane Kruger) offers to take-up a second job after hearing about her sister-in-law doing the same but her husband's foolhardy pride puts paid to that.
The narrative focuses more than half its runtime on a rather inconsequential teen romance between Greg and Kay's teenage son Jim (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and his classmate Ann (Sydney Park). The cinematography and editing try, rather ineffectively to make the romance feel lyrical and dreamy in an effort to contrast it with the struggle of the parents. It just doesn't work up any steam though. The complexity is missing and the lack of substance is galling. And neither of the stories are interesting. The parents struggle had promise but it remains underdeveloped.
First Love is tepid and boring. It doesn't play like a true-blue romance. The shot composition, the editing, the sound, the cinematography - all leave a lot to be desired. There's no real tempo going into this economic distress drama so the audience is more likely to feel disconnected from what is going on even if they identify with the crisis that is central to this story. The dialogue sounds insipid and uninteresting. There's nothing really intriguing or exciting here. to experience here. Aja's efforts don't really come good.
