November (2005)

The Worst Film Ever

Better Late Then Never

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Harrison's 'November' is quite an interesting piece of cinema. Shot with HD camera on a minimum budget, the film take us through the stages of of a young photographer's grief. But for whom is she grieving or who's death is she coming to terms with? That becomes apparent in the end. The movie's divided into three chapters: denial, despair and acceptance (stages of grief). The director presents hints through each stage as the truth slowly unfolds. Harrison's execution is quite simplistic in terms of technique. The visuals have a washed out look but are nonetheless intriguing. He uses a lot of symbolic elements, like the different gloomy colours in each segment, and a gloomy soundtrack. The entire film rests on Courteney Cox and she does an exceptional job. It's great to see her in a different role and the actress needs to do more movies. The supporting cast, that includes James LeGros and Anne Archer are very good. 'November' is quite a well made film. It is thought provoking and dark but many will dislike it most likely because of the theme. Many have complained that there is no plot but, in my opinion, I find that to be a ridiculous statement as the story (which I briefly mentioned earlier) is pretty obvious. Whether one likes it or not, I say 'November' is worth the watch.

*November Is The Cruelest SPOILER* November 7; Sophie (Courteney Cox Arquette), a photographer, and her attorney boyfriend Hugh (James LeGros) stop in front of a convenience store while coming home from a dinner together.Hugh goes in to buy some chocolate for Sophie, but while he is in the store a robber arrives and shoots all three people in the store, killing them.We flashforward to a few weeks later, and she is going to a psychiatrist to deal with the loss. But she keeps on having mysterious flashbacks and allucinations, including one where she sees herself on the floor of the convenience store, shot.Then we see another version of the story; Hugh is still alive, but they broke up because she cheated on him.What did really happen in that convenience store? Shot in HD in just 15 days, this movie deals with a tricky subject - SPOILER SPOILER HUGE SPOILER a look into the thoughts of a dying person - SPOILER SPOILER HUGE SPOILER and did it nicely; I particularly liked the repetitions and the lighting, which were two huge clues (along with the picture of Hugh's hand) about what happened.SPOILER I also think that Hugh died in the first version because she 'gave' her wound to him (she said he was shot twice to the psychiatrist, but he was only shot once, as we see at the end, and the second shot was her own - the stomach pains are a clue to it), and his 'leaving her' in the second part means his staying alive, his not following her in the other world (it's highly unlikely he'd die of just a shoulder wound) SPOILER In short, I quite liked 'November'. Even if it has quite the end credits...November: 8/10.

November starts with a shot of a man entering a convenience store and a subsequent robbery. I've always liked movies that incorporate a robbery into the first part of the movie. The main reason is that we aren't sure what's going to happen - small-time armed robbers are erratic. Unfortunately, my wishes for the robber to get his comeuppance were squashed when he starts putting bullet holes in everyone. The trigger is apparently when Courtney Cox's silly boyfriend can't figure out how to explain his lack of a wallet. He just stands there completely dumbfounded and speechless. And we're supposed to believe that he's an attorney. His litigation skills are obviously somewhat lacking.Meanwhile, Courtney Cox sits in the car apparently oblivious to the gunshots ringing out in the convenience store.Then things get weirder. Courtney Cox keeps having flashbacks and weird experiences, and unfortunately they're not the kind that involve inviting Phoebe and Rachel over for a slumber party. No, they're the kind that involve sticking a Q-tip so deep into your left ear that you pull out part of your brain.She's also getting photographs that were apparently taken by someone who witnessed the crime at the convenience store. And since she's a photography teacher, she is able to provide a good critique of the photo quality, lighting, exposure and depth. She showcases the photos to her class, but they seem non-plussed, but apparently inspired enough to begin taking numerous photos of roadsigns, "people in strange places on cell phones", blurry pill bottles, and macro shots of dirt.Meanwhile, she's apparently also having a steamy affair with one of her students -- a young black man. Personally, I suspect that this choice in casting was due to Courtney Cox...because the moments she's on screen with him are the only moments of true electricity on the screen. And we all know that Ms. Cox isn't that good of an actress.The editing in this movie leaves a little to be desired. I am fairly certain that there were a few redundant scenes that could have been trimmed down to give this film a slimmer runtime...like around 20 minutes.

Confusing? Yes. Fractured story line? Yup. Could I recommend it to family members? Certainly not. The reason for the confusing narrative is because the director divides the film into quarters (instead of the traditional three act format). Without telling us in advance, he also "tints" each quarter segment with colors. The 'Denial' quarter is filmed in a blue tint, another quarter in sepia, another in 'white light', and so on. Subliminally, all this confuses the viewer, on a script which also filled with flash-backs and flash-forwards. Too much fractionalization to follow coherently for the average Joe.November has a cool and artful look. But artful looks can't carry a storyline if the majority of viewers are puzzled.If your a film student however, or if you have a Panasonic DVX-100 and want to make your own movies, this film is a goldmine. Film students: go to the special features menu and click on where director Harrison converses with his DP about how they made the film.He describes in the greatest detail how the film was made. All technical aspects of recording on mini-DV, transfer to non-linear AVID, sound recording imported from a 48k DAT at 29.97 is all discussed; location work, practical lighting, shooting without a crew, editing special FX, etc. Transfer to digi-beta and filmout steps all expertly explained.Harrison also discusses INDIGENT Films, the NYC studio that bankrolled this film. Indigent produces high quality - low budget movies and distributes them to markets worldwide.So in conclusion, I am purchasing a copy of November because it is an incredible training tool for the straight-to-video filmmaker. But also because I want to support Harrison and Indigent Films. Harrison will do better on his next film. And praise must be given to Indigent for producing these otherwise marvelous low budget features.In the DVD's director's commentary Harrison calls this a "no budget" movie. Then he tells us it was made for $500,000. Hardly a no budget film. In Texas, we would have shot this film for one fifth that price.But in all fairness, I really liked this film and it's arty, cranked up editing style. I'm looking forward to following Harrison's work and will definitely be tracking anything coming out of Indigent's movie inventory. Keep an eye on these folks. They're going places.Gary T filmmaker/Texas