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Reviews
Transatlantic Coffee (2012)
Storytelling is at its when it breaks your heart
Erik Peter Carlson's emotionally devastating romantic drama Is Transatlantic Coffee.
The performances from Pinassi and Lewis are astounding. Raw, believable and filled with anguish. Both actors deserve nominations for their work in a film that has them bearing the entirety of their souls, especially Pinassi. Carlson's screenplay is outstanding.These characters do not feel scripted; from the flustered, inarticulate ways that they argue to the frank and sometimes painfully erotic fashion in which they show their love. Alex (Pinassi) seems brutally, unflatteringly like a real person, and the inevitable tragedy that befalls is all the more upsetting because of this. Perhaps most impressive is that Alex begins the film as a particularly unlikable individual, but the phenomenal work from the two leads ensures that by the stories end, we want nothing more than for things to work out all right.
Carlson employs a minimalistic directorial style in order to match the simple, real world story that he is trying to tell. Using predominately hand-held cameras, or very still, long takes, the writer-director highlights the unremarkable nature of his characters; their vulnerabilities, hopes and frustrations.
It does not seem like a spoiler to reveal that the ending of Transatlantic Coffee is not a happy one. To anyone who watches more than five minutes of this film, it is all too apparent that the conclusion is inevitable, and that all efforts to change things are in vain. (500) Days of Summer brought a bittersweet poignancy to a tale of breaking up; by comparison, the story of Alex and Mandie is merely bitter. But while the movies outlook on love is a sad one, its astonishingly real aesthetic, intensely human performances and heart-breaking emotional effect is simply undeniable.