Oliver Peoples just released a new short film to promote their sunglasses. The fashion company is fairly well known for high quality short films, usually erring on the side of fantastical and dreamy. This film featuring indie musician/artist Devendra Banhart and his girlfriend Rebecca Schwartz went a slightly more steamy route. Regardless of the sexual content of this project, I actually really appreciate the style of this film. The sunny lighting inspires and lifts my mood on cold winter afternoons like today.
I have no idea who Schwartz is but the way she looks in the mirror with her big coal-rimmed eyes recalls an innocence I haven't really seen since the French New Wave era. And maybe the scene in Atonement where Kiera Knightly gets ready for dinner. To be sure, Schwartz remains the object-not subject- in this film. That said, I really appreciate these mirror shots when done right (mirror shots in comedies never really deliver). For a brief instant the audience comes in union with the object as they both see the same thing at the same time. Of course, Schwartz is this thing; we see her through rose colored glasses...maybe the same ones Oliver Peoples wants to hawk.
I'm ignoring the feminist implications of object/subject relations in movies this time to comment on the aesthetically pure nature of this court metrage. Thank you to Oliver Peoples for doing the mirror shots right. Also, thank you to Banhart for providing an excellent song for the film. Just please...less ironic anchor tattoos and more clothes next time.
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