Ali & Ava, the rescheduled film of our 77th season achieved an overall appreciation score of 69%. Some positive plaudits from members but many found the film spoilt by poor cinematography/sound and also very indistinct dialogue. Some of the comments submitted:
- Very good characterisation and social comment. A nice touch with a romance between two very unlikely characters.
- Great that the soundtrack of the film enhanced the cinematography in such a powerful way.
- Extraordinary, gritty, exacting, and touching all at the same time. Unforgettable.
- Loved it. A sensitive human story which was beautifully shot, slow moving and well crafted.
- Favourite film so far this season. Very funny but also touched on various issues such as racism, social class, and domestic abuse. A negative was the filming was quite dark.
- Loved it from start the finish. Totally absorbed throughout. Great choice.
- I found it difficult to hear what was being said. Is there any chance that there could be subtitles on the English speaking films?
- Found the film frustrating to watch as the sound was so poor and I missed so much of it as a result.
- A bit disappointed with this film as it sounded as if it was going to be one of the highlights of the season.
- Only just ‘Good”. Low lighting and fuzzy bass-dominated sound made it somewhat unappealing. But the narrative was simple and clear. Issues were realistic & approached with subtlety & sensitivity.
- A touching lightly handle and optimistic film about a contemporary mixed race relationship. A kitchen sink story better shot in black and white would add visual style to the grittiness of the setting. Colour or lack of it detracted from the poignancy of the story. A film with a story worth telling better suited to a main stream TV channel release and a potentially even bigger audience for an important story that needs to be told.
- The plot was interesting, and it was well-acted, but it was spoiled for me as I missed a lot of the dialogue, which was quite muffled. I am not hard of hearing by the way!!
- Disappointing, as I was looking to seeing it after seeing advertised in the cinema. The characters and the supposed romance between them didn’t ring true. They were poles apart and had nothing in common apart from loneliness. Also, difficult to hear what was being said in places.
- The diction was exceptionally poor – couldn’t hear much of the script (my hearing is good) . The cinematography did nothing for me – so dark in so many places. So without sound and dark scenes the film was disappointing.
- I found the film frustrating. The hand-held camera didn’t help. The ‘cloudy’ background was also annoying. My main problem was that I couldn’t really hear the dialogue properly, so I probably missed a lot of information.
- Very good film BUT on the night the sound was so muffled it made the dialogue incomprehensible and the picture was sombre throughout. I know it is not normal because I viewed the film again on Netflix and enjoyed it without all these drawbacks.