This Is a Film About Tom and Maddy (2013) Online

You get the feeling with this film that, while it is a film about a couple, it is conscious to avoid just falling into a very broad and deep genre. As such there is a lot about the presentation, the content and the style that strives to be different – and I mean strives. From the narration, the use of slides, the use of roars as dialogues, a solo dance sequence and an ending that drops a whole bag full of hot potatoes into the viewer's lap; this is a film that is absolutely determined to make sure that it does not just fade into your memory with other relationship dramas.

The problem is though, that as a viewer, I never lost the feeling that it was trying really hard to be this way. So there are interesting aspects about it and there is a certain amount of the style and presentation that I really liked, but the overwhelming feeling I got from the film was not to do with its substance, but rather the sense that everything behind the film was done so that it was different and quirky – not that it worked. Part of this feeling came from the way that the film didn't actually work. It doesn't build and even where it relies on viewer familiarity with the relationship dynamics, it falls over because even then it doesn't help the viewer to get anyway.

It is a shame because there is clear talent behind the camera, and some of the quirks show creativity and flair, but the film is all about showing this, and not about telling a story in a creative way. Ultimately it feels like it is trying so hard to be different and quirky for the viewer, that one loses interest in both this, and the little other than this which it also has.