Director: Michael Bartlett
Starring: Gareth Howells, Scott Ainslie
Running Time: 18 Minutes
"Mike Bartlett’s ‘Mnemosyne’ steps into the ring for a long
awaited showdown with Kev Cowell..."
Mnemosyne, the debut short film by writer/director, Mike Bartlett,
was lensed in the summer of 2003 after a relatively short
period of pre-production. Being his first film, the
production was a little chaotic. Poor planning and
unforeseen circumstances threatened to put an end to
Mike’s film early on, but momentum grew after a somewhat
false start and the film started to come together. Filmed on
DV, Mnemosyne (correct pronunciation anyone?) was shot
over several weekends before disappearing for well over a
year whilst Mike enlisted the help of technicians to realise
his vision in post production. So many independent films die
in post production and are never heard of again and I had the
feeling that the same would happen with this one. It would
have been a shame to see all the work and learning process go
to waste. Bits of information surfaced from time to time on
Mike’s website, but the film didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Then out of nowhere, a Halloween 2004 online premiere was announced
on Mike’s diary. I was unsure what to make of this, as previous
deadlines of spring and summer had passed without a glimpse of
the film. As Halloween approached, Mike had begun hyping the film
to ludicrous extremes on his website and through emails to cast
and crew and comparing it to the likes of David Lynch. Whether
it was parody or inflated ego, the film could never stand up to
such unwise ‘next big thing’ hype. Still, Mike certainly let people
know that the film was still kicking around.
Ironically, after such a long wait the unthinkable happened on
Halloween eve which was the proposed premiere of Mnemosyne. Mike’s
site that had been running for three years without a glitch
vanished from the Internet! There was no trace and I had visions
of Mike running off to America with a suitcase full of DV tapes
and shattered dreams, never to be seen again. If the site were for
a major release, Mike could have been seen as the next Orson Welles
for hoaxing the world into thinking he’d actually made a film, and
turning it into one huge joke. It would have been perfect but not so
- the film was online the following morning and available to download.
The film Mnemosyne tells of a man called David who wakes up in
a strange and apparently deserted world, who tries to find out
what happened how he ended up there. The script had an interesting
premise and I always enjoy films where the protagonists exist
alone in the world. A strange fantasy epitomised in films like
‘The Last Man on Earth’, ’28 Days Later’ and ‘The Quiet Earth’.
It begs the question as to what would you do if you inherited
the Earth? Alarm bells did ring in the script when I saw a bizarre
and slightly patronizing section entitled “DVD Extra –
Understanding Mnemosyne”. This is the first time I’ve ever read
a script where a deleted scene / alternative ending have been
announced even before the film has been shot. The script itself
contained little action, and was confined to low-key conversations
between David and the characters he comes across in the deserted
world. Mike had the idea firmly in his mind, but seemed undecided
at the time how the revelation would be made to the audience.
Therefore he went ahead and shot two versions of the film.
The world of Mnemosyne isn’t as interesting as it could be. The
great deserted worlds of aforementioned films like ‘28 Days Later’
are substituted for middle class Letchworth – a dull and already
lifeless town with uninteresting modern architecture. However Mike
was working with nothing much in the way of a budget and was much more
limited in where he could film. Therefore the shots were grabbed
in guerrilla fashion early in the mornings on the streets of Letchworth.
The film itself clocks in at 18 minutes and should be much shorter,
taking an age to get going. Too much of the run time is padded with
these deserted townscape images when we could have had a bit more story.
The sequence when Dr Jennings tells David about what is happening
to him is a case in point. Whereas there could have been an interesting
montage sequence, we’re led back to the same bland shots of
deserted streets that don’t really convey anything.
Mnemosyne is well crafted in places. Although the motif is overused,
there are some nice high angle shots of the deserted town, which
certainly help in conveying the desolation of David’s plight. The
night scenes in David’s flat are very effective and simply achieved
with natural light captured day for night. Also, Mike has got good
coverage of the dialogue scenes between David and Graham allowing
him to cut effectively between symmetrical long shots to medium shots
and close ups. Other sequences don’t work as well like the Doctor’s
surgery, which has a flat, television documentary look due to
a lack of lighting. Quite what Mike was thinking with the inclusion
of some truly dreadful music (played backwards) in the background of
this scene is anyone’s guess. The mix of it is too loud and drowns
out the character of Dr Jennings with the scene becoming the equivalent
of nails down a blackboard for the audience. Another sequence in
David’s flat looks out of context with sickly orange and green
décor and the appearance of a garish wine bar.
The editing is competent throughout but also a bit loose in places.
Some shots cut too early, others linger too long on nothing in
particular. When David approaches the Doctor’s surgery the audience
are left lingering on an empty doorway for a few seconds before
David pops into shot. Some tightening up of these scenes and removal
or shortening of the deserted streets shots could have added more
pace to the film and reduce the padded feel.
When we get to the reveal at the end, I was slightly disappointed.
The way it was achieved was good, as we catch glimpses of the final
sequence as the demons close in on David and Graham. Once we find
out he has become ill in an asylum, the premise is spoilt. This
somewhat shallow ending destroys the mystique of what has gone
before. The real hook is that everything that happened within
the town is what David heard from his bed while mentally ill.
He has projected these words in the fantasy dream world of the
town. However this hook is overpowered by an ending that suggests
‘it was all a dream’. This point is hammered home by the pompous
quote at the beginning of the film, which is later repeated by
the character of Dr Jennings.
Given the number of people credited as assisting the writing of
Mnemosyne, it’s amazing to find such an empty story with so many
under developed ideas. Shots and situations appear to have been
gathered from Mike’s DVD collection and patched together. The
resulting fractured storyline is meant to come across as cerebral
and surreal, but it feels more like a patchwork of obvious
homages. In the opening few minutes there are references to
‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘28 Days Later’, two very recent films
that are still too fresh in the memories of most people. A sub
plot involving demons is touched upon but not developed sufficiently,
which could have provided an added depth to the storyline. The
mother appears to be one of the key characters early on with a
scene involving a long telephone conversation. After this though,
the character is forgotten and only glimpsed in the end reveal; the
stranger Graham plays the significant role from here on in.
Ironically when the film steps up a gear (when the two characters
try to escape the town) Mike deviates from his original idea
and creates lapses in the story. In the screenplay, the car
is meant to have crashed into an invisible barrier/dome on the edge
of town, however in the film, David yells just before to Graham “Look
out!” One has to ask how David would have seen an invisible barrier. The
sequence itself doesn’t look like a car crash, as the car looks neatly
parked. Also, the scene couldn’t have taken place in the real world of
the asylum and therefore spoils the overall premise that everything
is taking place in reality and projected into David’s dream. The
following shots where David is stunned at finding that a dome surrounds
the town makes more sense in the film than the script as the audience
has no idea what caused the car to crash. Also if David saw the
barrier before the crash, why would he be so shocked when he bangs
into it? Whatever the inconsistencies created by this scene are,
it only serves to make the audience believe more in the ‘it was
all a dream’ ending, rather than the more profound dream/reality mergence.
The ending does have a slightly tacked on feel, almost as if the film
finally has to reveal something to the audience before they die of
frustration. The revelation itself is an interesting idea: how two
storylines have apparently ran in parallel throughout. However the
inconsistencies in some of the dialogue and situations mentioned
earlier prove that it couldn’t really have taken place in this second reality.
The acting is strongest in the subtle scenes between David and Graham
– especially in one scene the characters sit on either side of a road
pondering the situation. Other scenes, such as when David reaches the
edge of town and hits an invisible dome come across as quite amateur
and raise an unintended smile. These types of scenes require a degree
of good special effects to be convincing. Unfortunately for everything
actor Gareth Howells gives to the scene, the wobbly bit of
perspex that he is seen banging on never convinces.
The sound was good throughout - a sturdy mix of foley and
effects with an appropriate ambient score by Stephen Hoper. It was
only let down by some inconsistent dialogue work. The scene when
Graham’s character first appears is obviously re-recorded and
sounds incorrect acoustically, as if it was recorded indoors and
not outside as it should be. On the other hand, the Doctor’s
surgery scene suffers from poor location sound. These are the only
two scenes where the dialogue really posed a problem; the majority
of the film sounded solid and added an extra dimension to the
film, greatly enhancing its atmosphere.
Make no mistake; Mnemosyne is a very good first film from Mike
Bartlett and wins hands down over most other directors’ first
efforts. It looks professional, contains a strong soundtrack and
some competent acting. It is bathed in an atmosphere of minimalist
surrealism and even from watching the compressed web version,
definitely creates an impression. The shortcomings lie mainly in
an underdeveloped story and an idea that wasn’t quite as original
as it was purported to have been and certainly not needing an
18 minute duration to be revealed. The situations that David finds
himself in are quite dull and never quite captivate the audience.
One can’t help but think that more could have been explored
within this fantasy world context.
Mike Bartlett is a good self-publicist and his popular online
diary led us to believe we were expecting a masterpiece of
Lynchian surrealist cinema. It doesn’t achieve this, but he has
created a depressingly bleak and empty landscape and the scenes
contained within also have a lonely feel. Paradoxically, the film’s
strength is also part of its weakness and the lonely streets just
become boring after a while. The long awaited Mnemosyne is difficult
to surmise; it’s essentially a drama piece that wants to be
experimental. It’s technically well made but has narrative
shortcomings. Mnemosyne feels a bit like what we see for a
good portion of the film - a hungover walk around a desolate town,
early in the morning. It does bode well for the future of film-maker
Mike Bartlett though, and his future productions will
certainly be of keen interest to the independent film scene.
6/10 - through to the next round. - Kev Cowell, Film-Idol.Com