Review: Eleven Minutes

Eleven Minutes is directed by Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, and centres and revisits the same eleven minute period in the lives of several different characters, including a sleazy Hollywood director, a jealous husband and an ex-con, among others.Despite enjoying several aspects of this film (in particular its engaging narrative style, as well as its truly powerful and affecting score), I do feel that this is a true case of style over substance here. I felt that the film did, on more than one occasion, drag, whilst I also found myself not really caring about any of these (well-acted) characters. I found a lot of their separate storylines, whilst occasionally captivating and engaging while they were happening, to never really go anywhere and not be very well defined, and ending up not really amounting to much. I also found that the movie did get rather predictable the longer it went on, with the realisation that all these characters and their stories would ultimately intersect with each other (something we’ve seen on countless occasions before) in some way dawning on me disappointingly early.I did, however, enjoy some of its more surreal, strange moments - the scene in the elevator being a particular highlight -, but apart from these surreal moments, and it's, for the most part, engaging narrative style, I found myself not caring much about what was going on. I didn’t particularly care for the characters, or their situations, since I never really got to know any of them, and ultimately found the film to be a shockingly hollow experience, full of plenty of style, but very little, if any, substance.I also found the film’s ending to be both completely ludicrous, over the top, and quite frankly silly. It is a complete contrast to the previously serious, realistic tone the movie had built and maintained, and thus making the film a tonal mess. It also, for me, completely destroys any chance of the ending being in anyway emotional or affecting, with the frankly silly climax playing it all almost for laughs.One other thing I did enjoy about the film was the score, which is both haunting, powerful and at times truly eerie. It really does convey the drama and tension of the film exceptionally well. I also found the cinematography of the film to be rather excellent, with several beautiful shots and sequences.Overall, however, I have to say that I was truly disappointed by this film. The narrative style, whilst interesting and engaging, is the only real thing about it that is in any way memorable. I found the characters and their stories, whilst occasionally interesting, to ultimately fizzle out and not really go anywhere, consequently making them rather pointless in my eyes. The tone I felt was a mess, and the ending completely destroys any chance of the film having an emotional effect on the audience.