Thursday, January 13, 2011

A Foundling and Stricter Adoption Screening Tests: A Movie Review

*Full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by director Carly Lyn.

Director/writer: Carly Lyn.

A foundling is defined as an abandoned child, from multiple sources and this first feature film from Carly Lyn premiered in 2010, with another showing at Bleedfest earlier this month. Lyn's film blends the western and sci-fi genres for mixed results. The message of family unity is noble, but the execution is sometimes frustrating. Sisters, Virginia (Cindy Chiu) and Mattie (Nora Jesse) find a common bond in the deserts of California, along with snub-nosed child. Slow pacing is the end result.

To flesh out the plot a little: Virginia travels by horseback to reunite with her "long lost sister" (Foundling). A harlot, Mattie is happy to be found, but also concerned with a crash landed alien. A bite here, an extraterrestrial visiting there and soon Mattie is succumbing to a strange disease. Enter in a native shaman and life is back to normal.

This film's slow pacing, and journeying in circles through a desert just did not pique any interest, with this reviewer. While the acting is above average (especially Jesse), there are no character arcs or reveals here. Blending genres so different, such as the ones mentioned above, is usually a bold move, but Lyn does not follow-up with the science fiction. The alien visitor seems almost more helpless than the two 19th Century heroines.

This film is for those more forgiving than this reviewer and if you are interested in this title, A Foundling will release on DVD shortly. Lyn's first step into the feature film biz is sure to be the start of more exciting and risk taking creations. More details on A Foundling are below.

Editing/pacing/continuity: 5 out of 10 (could have been edited down to a thirty minute show).
Directing/style: 6 out of 10 (interesting camera angles, but sometimes too shaky).
Acting/believability: 6.5 out of 10 (good for a low budget venture).

Overall: 5.8 out of 10.

Become a fan of the film on Facebook:

A Foundling on FB

The film's homepage:

A Foundling's Official Website

This is another western sci-fi blend, with a much bigger budget:



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