Bluebird – Written Review

Bluebird

Written Review

Hi everyone and welcome to MyIndie Review Vlog, the show that gives you spoiler-free reviews of indie films. My name is Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions.

Today I’ll be reviewing 2015’s feature-length drama-thriller Bluebird, written and directed by Canadian indie filmmaker, Matthew Hardstaff.

Thank you, Matthew for sharing your film with us.

Kate, portrayed by Natasha Allan, is a beautiful young woman, dealing with amnesia that seems to have stemmed from a severe and mysterious trauma that befell her, leaving her with no memory of her past life other than occasional cryptic echoes, manifesting as glimpses of the ordeal she went through.

Kate’s situation causes her to become somewhat of a recluse, leading best friend and confidante Laurie, played by Gillian Hutchison, to take her out for a fun night of excessive drinking. As a result, Kate meets Roger, played by Randy Thomas. The two seem to hit it off and Roger even seems to be onboard with Kate’s condition. It really looks to head towards a serious relationship with true love blooming… Which is about where the plot takes a turn in a different direction.

Visually conveyed in a style dominated by intercuts and non-diegetic sounds and dialogue, Bluebird feels to be put together as more video-art carrying a plot while being heavily invested in the visual display, rather than the narrative.

Matthew has us experience the cryptic glimpses Kate does in a high enough frequency to make us feel unease along with her and better understand what it’s like to be in her shoes, filled with anxiety and uncertainty.

He also built a lot of the dialogue-filled scenes, where characters talking to Kate are shot from her direct Point-Of-View, meaning they’re talking to the camera. I think he did that as a way to tell us that the world of the film belongs to Kate, rather than contains her in it. We experience what she does, we know as much as she does, or as much she shows she does.

There are numerous sequences of intercuts. Most cuts are very short and edited as snippets, showing things like Kate in obscure locations, a mysterious shadowy figure and fair amount of other examples of that nature. The style is in some ways reminiscent of works by the likes of David Lynch and maybe even Darren Aronofsky, specifically in Requiem for a Dream.

Personally, I felt somewhat lost at times due to the sheer amount of intercut sequences, that from a certain point during viewing, felt to be used as abstract expression, rather than ‘bread-crumbs’ loyal to the development of the narrative.

I’d like to reiterate that this is just my personal take, as it could be that each and every sequence clearly caters to the narrative. I’m just saying that in the fashion it was displayed, it was extremely hard to follow for me personally.

Having said that, production value is very high for an indie film, cinematography and lighting were professionally handled and the performances were convincing.

Bluebird gets a 7.5/10 on the Look At Me, I’m A Film Critic scale
The film is available for rent or purchase on Vimeo on Demand, links below. Let us know what you think.

Until next time, keep supporting indie film. Watch, share, spread the word. My name is Asaf Angel, I thank you for tuning into MyIndie Review Vlog. I’ll see you next Thursday!