Bokeh (2017) Review

Bokeh would make an amazing Black Mirror episode; that being said it makes for a horrible, boring movie. It has poor acting, terrible characters, and while its cinematography is incredible, it is a shallow, repetitive film with little to say and what it does say is unsurprising and underwhelming.

Bokeh is a film about a couple Jenai (Maika Monroe, It Follows) and Riley (Matt O'Leary, The Lone Ranger) who, while holidaying in Reykjavik, become the only people left on earth. The film follows their time during the weeks following the disappearance of mankind and how they deal with it. It's not original, but regardless it's a fascinating concept, especially when there's a relationship thrown into the mix. But Bokeh fails to live up to its plot, and delivers an underwhelming film.

It's hard to talk about a film that's bad, mainly because hating on someone's passion project is tough, but also because when there is so much wrong it becomes difficult to structure. So I'll start with the characters: Bokeh doesn't do anything right in regards to its characters. It focuses on two characters, and for them, and the plot to work, they either have to be likable or sympathetic. Unlikable characters make it hard to enjoy a film, because instead of rooting for them to survive, instead I was hoping for them to fail. An unlikable character isn't  impossible to either eventually grow to like, or at least enjoy their presence on screen; take Alex from A Clockwork Orange for example, he was not only well acted, but you could often sympathise with his plight. Maika Monroe's character on the other hand (Jenai) is completely unlikable and a pain to watch on screen. She starts off reacting how I assume most would, asking all the important questions: Where is everyone? What am I supposed to do? I want to go home! But instead of then taking in the situation and trying to deal with it, like her boyfriend Riley, she whines and complains the whole time. And listening to her being down and whining the whole time is boring, just like the repetitive scenes and the slow pacing. Not only is it boring, but it means she is a shallow one dimensional character who never develops. Riley, in contrast, is more interesting, but still feels undeveloped. He is victim to more events, and seems to be interested in maturing for his girlfriend, but he never is gripping. This is a film about the two people left in the world, and they're just a bore to watch. Obviously there's no one else left to interact with, so there's either scenes of the two of them being dull together, or being dull alone, which is often excruciatingly painful to watch. And neither of them are good actors either. You don't feel the emotion that is required to make this believable. The only time that I truly believed a character's emotions was at the very end, as the credits rolled (You'd need to see the film for context, no spoilers here.) Even then I was so done with the film that I simply rolled my eyes and switched it off.

Aside from poor characters and development of said characters, this film essentially consists of a good opening, an uninteresting, uneventful middle, and then a frankly insulting and uninspired ending. This film feels thirty minutes too long (hence it would make a good episode in something like Black Mirror) often making up the 1hr 30 minute run time with montages of them walking around the countryside not doing anything. This films pacing is abysmal. It's pleasant when a film ends and you feel as if no time has passed at all, it's a sign of good quality. This film doesn't feel like that. This film felt like three maybe four hours long. And it shouldn't. Interestingly enough, to the film's credit, it explored surprising avenues that films such as this don't tend to. For example, there are scenes of characters being injured, and realising the consequences. This is when the film shines, and doesn't drag; this is because their are real stakes involved. However, these scenes are brief, and only exist to create tension between the characters. Instead of being a film about survival, or dealing with the consequences, it's a film about a relationship (significantly less interesting.) To make matter's worse, as I've pointed out, they're not interesting people, and so their relationship is even less interesting. They seem like a happy couple, and then the oh-so-inconvenient disappearance of all of humanity ruins their happy go lucky attitude. It's not believable. They don't stay strong together, like you'd imagine they would, it doesn't become a bonding experience for a broken relationship (perhaps not that interesting of a concept, but certainly good for character development) instead it just ruins a relationship, so we have to sit their while they bicker. A far more interesting film, The One I Love, deals with the concept of a relationship breaking down due to supernatural circumstances far better than this. The only reason I was compelled to continue through the film was because of the incredible cinematography that captures the true beauty of the urban and rural landscapes. But even the long montage sequences of these shots drags, and after thirty or forty minutes you've seen it all (again, good TV episode, bad film.) Aside from that, it is a poorly structured hollow film, feeling as if the directors/writers Geoffrey Orthwein and Andrew Sullivan had nothing much to say. I'll admit there are moments in the film, such as an incredible scene where Riley gets trapped in an elevator and the realisation of being alone sinks in, but these moments are not substantial enough to elevate the film to an enjoyable level, and even these moments of heightened tension cannot solve the just awful pacing.

Bokeh does one thing right; it tries to take the situation these characters are in seriously, for instance Riley tries to develop things to help them get water or food etc. It takes a look at how one would survive in a situation like theirs. But all of these good ideas are dwarfed by the poor character development, bad pacing, uninteresting characters and motivations, a poorly executed and lackluster love story and overall a overdone, unoriginal concept done inadequately. Had the film focused on the couple just trying to survive, it would likely have been enjoyable, but it doesn't, and so it's not. My suggestion: stay away, don't watch Bokeh, even if you're the only person left on earth, and it is the only film.

2/10