Making her directorial debut, Amber Tamblyn's Paint It Black is a fierce examination of grief, depression, and the importance of self, a film that certainly struggles at times with pacing and other issues, but is hard not to appreciate due to the filmmaker's passion for the themes and human qualities of the story shining through. Taking place in the aftermath of the death of a loved one, a young artist named Michael, Paint It Black is the story of two characters in Michael's girlfriend, Josie, and his mother, Meredith, each of which has been shattered to learn of Michael's death, a suicide I should add. For Josie, the mere attempt to come to terms with Michael's death feels insurmountable, a young, "semi-impoverished LA dreamer" (the film is kinda vague about her goals and her apartment is decent but cool) whose lost the person she lived with, seemingly spent almost every moment with, who she shared her life with. Meredith is of a completely different ilk on the surface, an accomplished pianist who lives in large house, a woman who quite viciously holds Josie responsible for her son's suicide, viewing her as the source of her son's torment. From there is where Paint it Black gets fascinating and somewhat frustrating, as Meredith and Josie form a complex and subversive relationship, where their distrust towards each other is in constant conflict with their need of one and other for solace in their time of grief. Using these two seemingly different individuals, Paint It Black is an honest portrait of the deep-seeded pain of grief, capturing how in times of extreme pain one has a hard time finding solace in the comforts of anyone else, particularly those who didn't share the same personal connection. Throughout this film both Meredith and Josie are essentially greeted with polite gestures of empathy yet they feel no solace, with Paint In Black capturing the insultingly simplistic nature of pleasantries in extreme grief. With both Josie and Meredith in this state of grief, the only chance of solace lies in each other, with their pent up aggression, due to this tragedy, being in constant conflict with their need for condolence from someone who truly understands their pain. In the film's examination of these two woman, Paint It Black also investigates the nature between self pity and ego, impressively balancing this with the importance of understanding the overbearing weight of extreme grief, exhibiting how these are not mutual exclusive concepts but just elements of the human experience, intertwined with one and other. The problem at times is that Paint It Black can be far too didactic in approach, whether its unnecessary expositional dialogue or unnecessary scenes completely, the filmmakers' don't rely on visual storytelling enough. That is not to say the filmmakers don't make a lot of daring and creative decisions throughout, as Paint It Black has some imaginative, expressionistic moments that visually capture the inner torment of these characters. The reason I found the film too uneven lies more specifically with the line the film totes between strange, psychological thriller and well-observed exploration of grief, as I at times found myself wishing Paint It Black went full out camp, with Meredith being one of the more memorable aspects of Paint It Black, for better or worse depending on your perspective, due to her vibrant performance. Janet McTeer gives a strange performance as the tormented mother, with Paint It Black getting quite a few unintentional laughs due her flamboyancy. I'd even argue the tone of the film even gets muddled when it seems to suggest Meredeth's borderline obsession and love for her son may be at least somewhat incestuous in nature. A film can certainly be both a thriller and a potent tale of humanistic emotions, but the tone of Paint It Black made me want it to completely embrace its madness, which in turn hurts the balance of the film's more humanistic intentions. Paint It Black's examination of grief is far more nuanced than its examination of depression, though I'd argue that didn't bother me that much considering it focuses on the aftermath of the suicide, though certainly acknowledging that their is a shared connection between the two of them. In the end, Paint It Black seems about the importance of keeping some form of empathy in times of pain, but also the importance of receiving it in return. There is a character Josie meets towards the end of the film, who also suffers in a way I wont detail, that represents a surrogate version of Josie herself, in a sense, someone who can share the same type of twisted relationship Meredith had with Josie, as the film seems to suggest that Meredith is finally becoming free of her grief and subsequent depression, due the extreme concord Josie was able to provide by the end of their twisted relationship. While Amber Tamblyn's Paint It Black can be frustratingly uneven and a bit didactic in approach, the film delivers a fierce energy in its study of grief, a cocktail of self pity, dependency, anger, empathy, and madness.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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