In the cinema, it is customary to compare newcomers-debutants with recognized masters of the film industry. For example, the media director who often makes a name on the big screen is called either “Hitchcock of the 21st Century” or “new Tarantino”. For the debut full-length film “Never Been Here,” Camille Toman, who acted as a director and scriptwriter in the project, was called “David Lynch in a Skirt” by some journalists and critics. However, such a flattering advance to a British documentary who made her debut in feature films, as the comments on “Never Been Here” read, turned out to be hasty. Filming was completed in the fall of 2014, but the premiere took place only in the summer of 2017 at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The tape received an IMDb rating of 4.40, in many national rentals it passed the box office. Especially cynical reviewers insist that the project is notable only for being the last film on the track record of actor, director and screenwriter Sam Shepard.
Brief description of the main idea
The movie “I've never been here” received neutral reviews, largely due to the lengthy plot, overloaded with philosophical dialogues.
The narrative introduces the viewer to the main character - a New Yorker photo artist Miranda. Creative nature draws inspiration from other people's lives. For example, its insert contains photographs of someone else’s smartphone found on the street. The girl is working on a new project, which is no less controversial in terms of art, as it will demonstrate the contents of the bags of her colleagues and acquaintances. Once Miranda witnesses a criminal incident, she is invited to the police station to identify the suspects. Without changing her preferences, the photo artist, after completing the procedure, spies on one of the possible perpetrators of the crime. In the future, the girl continues to be monitored and gets closer to the den of the attacker, at the same time feeling that she has also become the object of close monitoring. As a result, Miranda is no longer able to distinguish her tides of inspiration and creative fantasies from reality.
Bold comparison
After watching the tape, every second knowledgeable movie fan will certainly think about what caused the comparison of Camille Toman with David Lynch. According to critics in the reviews on “Never Been Here,” the beginning of the picture is very similar to Alfred Hitchcock's “Window into the Courtyard”. According to the author’s idea, the scene of the attack on the main character is seen through a window by a lover, but Miranda is sent to the police for an examination. Being in an unstable emotional state, the girl gives a “vague” testimony and outlines the attacker's external data that have nothing to do with real facts. This awakens some forces in creative nature, with which she simply cannot control. At this moment, the beholder has an association with Lynch's “Inland Empire” and “Mulholland Drive”. But the film “Never Been Here” (reviews of cinema experts is a confirmation of this) is an independent product, emphasizing the difference between Toman and Lynch within the boundaries of this project.
The difference is obvious.
Even the responses to the trailer for “Never Been Here” already emphasize the apparent difference in the authoring style of the author of Twin Peaks and the director-debutante. Lynch knows his audience very well and skillfully plays on its interests. The documentary does not feel the audience so subtly, therefore, for many inhabitants, her work left an unpleasant impression, characterized by one word - “uninteresting”. The heroine on the screen creates modern art, but it is demonstrated very poorly and faded, so the plot twists are perceived without much enthusiasm. Even Miranda’s own investigation is a continuous rebus, which the viewer simply gets tired of deciding. But this is not the biggest drawback. The fact is that most puzzles do not have a solution as such. Even the finale of the tape does not clarify anything, the heroine just leaves into the distance to the aching sounding music. Lynch, of course, could also finish his film half a word, Toman could, but the effect turned out to be the opposite. The first is the author's style, the second is the recognition of insolvency. At least that's what critics say in reviews of "I've never been here."
Verdict
The Toman project is distinguished by the fact that the verdict handed down by critics and ordinary viewers is practically the same. Viewing a picture is hard work, which remains unwarded. The reviews for “Never Been Here” read: after watching the tape, there is not the slightest bit of aftertaste left, only fatigue and stinging for the time spent.