Genesis

Barely a month after his previous release, Richard Bevis has another short in store for us. Where does this boy gets his inspiration from? The bible, obviously.

Genesis is basically a (surprise, surprise) music-driven short about the creation of the world. According to the director himself, the interest comes purely from a visual point of view, and not a religous belief, as some may have been led to believe. It certainly is a story that gives a director several possibilities to play around visually, but Bevis chooses the most straightforward path. Not that there has to be anything wrong with that.

It should come to no one's surprise that the movie looks very pretty, with wide, well-framed shots and splendid use of colors. The wildlife scenes in particular look great. If I have to put my finger on anything, it has to be that a movie of this type depends on being truly spectatular in order to make an impact. Unfortunately I don't think Genesis ever reaches that stadium where you feel it really blows your mind. Instead it just looks nice.

The photographs in the end give the film somewhat of a political message, even if it seems a bit worn out by now. At the same time it doesn't seem like Bevis wanted us to focus on them in the first place, which makes me wonder what they were doing there in the first place.

I find it hard to dislike a movie that is so full of the "the world is just awesome"-feel though, and that is probably Bevis' greatest strength as a director: he may not always succeed in conveying his ideas onto the screen, but one can always feel his passion for the subjects he handles. That is why fans of his previous work are probably going to love this, while those who didn't aren't likely to change their mind.

Originally posted on IN THE SPOTLIGHT

[Fredrick]

I originally rated this 7/10, but upon writing this review (and watching the movie a few more times) I felt there wasn't enough coherence between the rating and my thoughts about the movie. Don't get too caught up in the rating though, it's the words that counts (and I hope I wasn't too harsh - you know I love you, Bevis).