Liquid Sunshine

This is what happens when I actually pay attention to the hyperbole that people like tossing around. I prefer to watch movies if I haven't read any reviews, or even know what they're about, because that way, my experience is clean. Of course, that's not always possible, and in this case, it wasn't. Since checking the topic, I saw nothing but ultra-positive reviews, spoiler-filled discussions on all the intricacies of the plot, and more of the overblown responses that this community generally tosses around. So I saw the movie. And saw it again, and again, and again, editing the sound and watching certain bits so that maybe I'd understand the brilliance more. I don't, though. It's not there. It's not brilliant. Which is not to say that it isn't a damn good movie, this Liquid Sunshine. I haven't seen a single movie by Jon Barton, so I didn't really know what to expect from this. But surprisingly, it's good. Very, very good.

Liquid Sunshine is a short and sweet (aww) little movie about a guy reminiscing about the few memories he has of life. Why does he have these memories? What does his life mean? Why is he in the hospital? What was the point of this film? There is no storyline, which is apt for a short film of this type, seeing as it's kinda hard to have a plot in 4 minutes. It is essentially a collection of this guy's memories, along with a running commentary of what he's remembering, and the reasons why. The character's memories are childhood mishaps, and are the only ones he seems to have. Why does he remember only these? What is the nature of memory? Near the end, our jolly good man starts throwing around hints of why he's in the hospital, and a lot of depth is theoretically revealed. I saw this repeatedly, particularly the last few scenes. I lowered the volume of the music, because I could hardly understand some of the lines. I listened to the lines individually. I got it. Then I read the explanations by others, and they were the same. And I still don't see what the deal is. It wasn't a twist. It wasn't deep. It just... was. The storyline was certainly interesting, and the script was well written. Dialogue was very good, and it actually went somewhere. But it was all kinda... hollow. It didn't have the punch or emotional resonance that, say, a Ben Williams short has. I guess I never got too connected into the story, because the character was a fucking cartoony cylinder.

While there's some problems with the story, the direction is excellent. Barton uses the expansion pack in every scene, I think, which creates a visual uniqueness that I will steal and make non-unique when I release a movie. Character movement was pretty good, and visually many scenes had great composition. Several scenes, particularly the ones in the hospital, were like my manifesto fantasies coming true. Damn you Barton, I love you. It was excellent, really. Brilliant use of everything. The sound department wasn't as good, though. I seem to be the only one with the complaint, but the music occasionally made the lines sound muddy. The music was pretty good, though, fitting perfectly with the visuals. The voice acting was very good, though some of the lines weren't too clear, probably because I'm not worthy of understanding your sexy accents, you brits.

I dunno what rating I'd give it without the hype. Probably the same, though, because if there was no hype, I wouldn't have watched it repeatedly to try and get it. Just toss it out, 2/5. But no, it gels after a while. It's a flawed and ultimately not that moving piece of work, but it's one step away from greatness.

3.5/5