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November review
:. Director: Greg Harrison
:. Starring: Courteney Cox, James LeGros
:. Running Time: 1:23
:. Year: 20005
:. Country: USA
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A dramatic study of the consequences of a trauma on the human brain, Greg Harrison's November is an experimental work that transposes onscreen the various facets of a fractal memory, both visually and narratively.
As the film opens we witness a liquor store robbery that turns bad, taking away Hugh (James Le Gros), a customer who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Traumatized and haunted by guilt as she feels responsible for his death, his girlfriend Sophie (Courteney Cox) goes through several states of grief, each of these states (remorse, acceptance, etc..) being represented by the same sequences getting different treatments, at the levels of the narrative (the stories differ), the mood/genre (thriller, drama) and visuals (a work on colors).
The filmmaker introduces the picture from Susan's subjective point of view, making us assume that, like in most movies, what we're seeing is the truth. However, since her vision of the events has somewhat been shattered, when the film goes back for the first time to the initial scene (the robbery) we understand that we are the subjects of an experiment, the director making us go through the variable interpretations to which Sophie might be confronted.
November aims at showing that memory is a big puzzle that can easily get mixed up under the effect of a trauma. However, the filmmakers push the boundaries of their experimentation one step further for the audience, as each short film representing a mental state, somewhat overlaps the next one, so that lines get blurred even more — one story will however be the real one.
In terms of narrative, November uses the same structure as in Run Lola Run, but contrary to the German film, screenwriter Benjamin Brand doesn't only use it as a stylish but empty gimmick, as here it is the intrinsic part of a formula that has a greater purpose. Style-wise, Harrison is clearly influenced by the works of David Lynch, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh — for the use of colors as a thematic component — David Cronenberg and Luis Bunuel. The movie, which was shot on miniDV (in 24p mode), looks great and the quality of the cinematography — almost film-like — should inspire the legions of lazy indie filmmakers who keep serving us up cheap-looking video works. While James Le Gros and Anne Archer are known for their versatility, the surprise here is Courteney Cox who shows that she has dramatic chops, despite years of comedy stints in Friends.
While November might coincidentally be reminiscent in themes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the main issue here is rather the filmmakers' propensity to play with our minds at all costs as they willingly include a few elements — or clues — hat are improbable. At the Q&A at the LA Film Festival, Harrison and Brand stated that a few things had been added, because they looked good onscreen. Whether they can be clearly assimilated or be left open to various interpretations, surrealist films are usually works of extreme precision that have been meticulously planned, where every detail is at the right place. What matters is the final piece itself since art is the fruit of an egoistic act and exists by itself, free of any commercial or critical consideration. And this rather benign slip is actually the very mishap that restrains November within the boundaries of the cinematic exercise, rather than reaching the ranks of surreal cinema.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: American Films
Reviews 2012 - present
Reviews 1998 - 2012
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