A nuanced familial drama void of didactic exposition and conventional narrative-based formalism, Ilian Metev's 3/4 is a quietly profound portrait of family, one in which much of what is said is done with a visual aesthetic that uses composition, staging, and mise-en-scene to evoke the internal struggles of the various characters in this story. Deconstructing the various dynamics of a family that has quietly found itself at a crossroads, 3/4 presents an organic study of the rhythms of life, where individual pursuits, existential concerns, and various forms of longing all intersect under the intrinsically shared communal experience of family. Through its slice-of-life formalism, 3/4 slowly reveals a family struggling to strike the right balance, with the narrative being driven heavily by a daughter with a bright future, whose internal fear of failure manifests itself in part due to neglect from a father wrapped up in his own scientific pursuits. 3/4 is a story that is honest about the conflict yet communal nature of individualistic pursuits in a familial setting, being a story as much about communication as it is about internal alienation, dissecting these characters whom unbeknownst to them, share many of the same internal struggles but can't find the right words to express it. 3/4 evokes the quiet sense of self-doubt and alienation which comes from within, taking on a subjective visual lens, using tight framing and mise-en-scene to encapsulate the internal fears of Mila, a daughter who lacks the confidence due to a lack of nurturing by her paternal figure. All of these characters have similar traits, yet they each have their own rhythm to how the live their life, and in these rich characterizations Ilan Metev crafts one of the more singular family drams in recent memory, one that resonates in its simplicity. There is something so simplistically profound about Ilian Metev's 3/4, a film that cuts through the melodramatic noise often associated with films about familial conflict, presenting a piercing study of family through an existential lens.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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