Happy_Evil_Dude Review of Aram

Aram (2002)

bad script+laughable acting+amateurish film-making=boring as hell

[2/10 · 15 July 2008]

I'm guessing this movie didn't have much of a budget, and damn it shows. However a movie's quality cannot be judged by its budget and plenty of lower budget films have managed to transcend money issues to deliver grand viewing experiences. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about Aram. The filming is atrocious and borderline amateurish. This will sound pompous and boastful but my first short as a film student looked more professional than this. At its best, Aram looks like a bad TV-film thriller from the early 90s, minus the thrills. The film is boring as hell. Barely five minutes had passed when I first looked at my watch and by the 30 minute mark I felt like dozing off. The horrible filming previously mentioned is a reason for this but there are others, such as the film's near total lack of music. Director Robert Kechichian probably did this to obtain a greater sense of realism, such as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but unlike Kubrick's masterpiece it really doesn't work here (and hell, even 2001 had a few memorable and powerful musical moments). Kechichian somehow manages to film scenes such as shootings in a manner less suspenseful and exciting than a Teletubbies episode. The actors all seem to be rejects from stuff like The Young And The Restless, and are certainly not aided by Kechichian's spectacularly bad dialogs (seriously, who speaks like that?). The only actor who manages to come out somewhat unscathed is Simon Abkarian, playing the titular character. The DVD box proclaims this to be a masterpiece and you guessed it, I strongly disagree. It tries to be an "art film", concentrating more on the characters and their inner turmoil, but fails miserably. The story could have been interesting, with different dialogs and a different director, alas we're stuck with a bad script, unconvincing acting and unengaging film-making that all contribute to a very unpleasant viewing experience. All-in-all, I think Aram's big problem is that it never feels real. I have a wide range of tastes where movies are concerned, and I'm usually pretty easy on them, so when I say I thought this was bad, I really mean it. Of course there will always be people who will like it, but I sincerely can't understand why.