I watched "Elenore Makes Love" earlier today and Tubi suggested I might want to watch "Louise and Her Lover," so I did. "Elenore Makes Love" was a terrible film and...so is "Louise and Her Lover"! I gave them both two stars, primarily because the cinematography was pretty decent, especially in "Elenore Makes Love."
Ryan Balas directed both movies and I felt I should check out his IMDB page. Not surprisingly, he gets work as a cinematographer on other films and shoots food commercials in between gigs. For his feature films, he has his actors improvise much of the dialogue, and that's when I realized why his films are terrible.
You can have actors improvise and it can be successful. I've seen it done. It's risky business, but with smart, experienced, talented actors and a really sharp director it can work. Problem is, Ryan is not a sharp director and his actors are not particularly smart, don't have experience, and barely have talent.
"Louise and Her Lover" has more of a straightforward story than "Elenore Makes Love" so it's a little easier to follow, but that's not saying much because it's still a ridiculous mish-mash of nonsensical scenes that don't make a lot of sense and don't build whatever story you're trying to tell. The climax here was absurd and ineptly built up to, leaving me with nothing more than a heavy sigh of relief that at least the movie was over.
But that's it for me, Mr. Balas. After wasting nearly three hours on these two films (and writing reviews for them), I will expressly avoid watching anything else you ever do. There are consequences to being an awful, careless director...you lose what little audience was willing to take a chance on you.
Ryan Balas directed both movies and I felt I should check out his IMDB page. Not surprisingly, he gets work as a cinematographer on other films and shoots food commercials in between gigs. For his feature films, he has his actors improvise much of the dialogue, and that's when I realized why his films are terrible.
You can have actors improvise and it can be successful. I've seen it done. It's risky business, but with smart, experienced, talented actors and a really sharp director it can work. Problem is, Ryan is not a sharp director and his actors are not particularly smart, don't have experience, and barely have talent.
"Louise and Her Lover" has more of a straightforward story than "Elenore Makes Love" so it's a little easier to follow, but that's not saying much because it's still a ridiculous mish-mash of nonsensical scenes that don't make a lot of sense and don't build whatever story you're trying to tell. The climax here was absurd and ineptly built up to, leaving me with nothing more than a heavy sigh of relief that at least the movie was over.
But that's it for me, Mr. Balas. After wasting nearly three hours on these two films (and writing reviews for them), I will expressly avoid watching anything else you ever do. There are consequences to being an awful, careless director...you lose what little audience was willing to take a chance on you.