Name: Love, Celeste
Genre: Drama
Released: 2024-12-11
Duration: 1 h 29 min
Rating: 6.4
Cast: Zaid Aftab, Joel Haver, Dan Lotz

This is a bit on the slower side. It tries to be introspective and contemplative, and sometimes it works, but other times it feels a bit cliché. Daniel has a natural ease to him that allows him to ground the film quite a bit. Joel and Zaid's characters are a bit more stilted and keeps everything at a certain distance, which unfortunately leaves a lot of dynamic interaction off the table. The closest we get to that is the handheld whiteboard scene which plays with tempo, and timing in a way they never did with actual dialogue.

It's got a decent amount of locations, though it's centered in the same apartment. It does feel however that a decent amount of the scenes were kind of "3 guys walking, and mildly complaining to each other", which is fine, but that only lasts for a while before it gets a bit repetitive. The cinematography is some of the more interesting in a Joel Haver film. It does feel a bit limited still, but I think that all comes down to setting up a camera with a steady shot, and then shooting it as you're acting the scene yourself. When doing that, you lose some of the dynamics you could have otherwise had. The more interesting shots were when the camera was moving with purpose. Just having the camera move can add so much to a film, and I think this would have benefitted from having more camera movement.

When it comes to the script and acting out the scenes, I wish that would have gotten some more love. Because while the acting is decent, it's the same concept of slightly stilted characters talking and moving as such around each other, with a decent amount of precauriousness throughout the whole thing even as they get more emotionally bare with each other. What I miss is more playfulness in the body language, and more of a choreography and dance happening between the characters. I think if I felt like the characters had their own unique voice coming through them that would help a lot as well. The way it is now, it's all competent acting, but it's safe and comfortble which isn't very exciting.

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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Love, Celeste

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