Love in Bright Landscapes (2021)

Love in Bright Landscapes (2021). 1h 41m

“Thereu0026#39;s about an hour of this movie thatu0026#39;s really solid. I liken watching this to a sandwich with a really good filling, but between one slice of bread thatu0026#39;s stale, and another slice of bread thatu0026#39;s mouldy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe stale slice of bread is the first 10-15 minutes. It establishes things in a messy, somewhat confusing way, and I thought I was going to be in for something lousy. Things do shift somewhat into focus eventually, though, and lead into…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e…the surprisingly good filling of the sandwich/movie, which is the hour in approximately the middle that focuses exclusively on The Triffids. The music selections are great, a lot of the footage used is inspired and aesthetically pleasing, and the not quite rise and not quite fall story of a band no one knew what to do with (at the time) is told very well. Isolate this chunk and youu0026#39;ve got yourself a very satisfying 1-hour documentary on the band itself.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThings fall apart once the film focuses on McCombu0026#39;s post Triffids life, and eventual tragic demise. Itu0026#39;s a difficult subject and many interviewees appear confused or uncomfortable when talking about it, and then that leads to a film that ends up being wildly unsatisfying and unsure of what it wants to say. You can feel the documentary fall apart in a way that perhaps McCombu0026#39;s life did? But itu0026#39;s hard to say for sure when the filmmakers and the interviewees either canu0026#39;t or donu0026#39;t want to give a clear account about that last eight or nine years of the life of the man to whom this documentary is about.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt left a sour taste in my mouth, and made for an overall frustrating package. Mathematically, most of this film is good, as about one hour of its 100-minute runtime is solid. But some of its problems could have been overcome quite easily, with a little polish and through either editing the interviews down a little, or asking more hard hitting questions. And other things like the inconsistent quality of its visuals and audio are similarly hard to forgive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s sometimes sloppy, sometimes frustrating, but at other times very compelling. Without a doubt, my feelings on it are beyond mixed.”