6 Years (2015) - Hannah Fidell

Dan and Melanie, a young couple who are both in their final year of college, have known each other since childhood, having been in a romantic relationship for over 6 years.  When Dan is offered a promising job in Brooklyn from the record label with whom he interns, Dan and Melanie's relationship is put to the test.  Hannah Fidell's 6 Years is the type of film that lays its cards on the table from the get-go, being clearly a melodrama about young love and how the forces of life and adulthood can clash with the adolescence ideals of soul mates.  The film does a great job at capturing how personal growth can have a major impact on a dissolving relationship, as Dan's ambitions and future begin to conflict with his past desires and feelings, most notably his long-term relationship with Melanie.  While the film does speak to some profound truths about young love, 6 Years is unfortunately a film that struggles in the script department, lacking nuance in its storytelling which unfortunately makes the whole experience predictably and somewhat uninspiring at times.  What holds the film together afor stretches through some of its more didactic sequences are the two lead actors, Melanie Clark & Dan Mercer, who each give powerful performances of two young individuals who are seeing what they perceived as their ' ideal love' slowly shattered by outside opportunities and influences that go hand-and-hand with becoming an adult.  While the plot itself is rather uninspiring, 6 Years does have success at delivering an honest portrait of young love, capturing the volatility of emotion and the complacency which can exist in a long term relationship that was forged at such an early age.  While much of the film leaves something to be desired, the final scene of 6 Years is a powerful sequence which beautifully captures how the fear of uncertainty and hurt feelings can create a false sense of love and complacency which desperately needs to be shattered for the betterment of both parties.   While Hannah Fidell's 6 Years is a problematic film from script and story standpoint at times, the film is unquestionably heartfelt in its examinations of young love, making it a hard film not to appreciate.

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