Final Critique: Memories of Simulacra, Pg. 2

The ending, however, doesn't match the rest of the film. The majority of the film has a purple and brown tint to it, yet for a couple seconds at the end of the film there are a couple frames of an orange-yellow color, and the scratches on the film are gone. Also, the music itself doesn't change much to match these sudden changes. It seems that this could be better fixed by including a longer section of this color and changing the music to match, or by eliminating this section altogether.

Use of Audio
The music underscoring this film matched the visuals very well. It sounded a little like children's voices, and the melody had a kind of nursery rhyme sound to it, which also added to the dreamlike quality of the film.

My one complaint was that the audio sounded like it was on a continuously-running loop. It would have been interesting to hear some different strains in the music, just to add to it a little bit. But, of course, too much would distract from the visuals. Then again, considering the title and subject matter of the film - especially taking into account the "imperfect copy" element to "Simulacra", the music does seem to fit as it is.

Use of Budget
With how short this film is, it's difficult to tell how the budget was spent, though $350 isn't a large price tag. It seems like a good amount of it would have been used on purchasing the 16mm film stock, considering the last time I checked, it was $100 for a 10 minute spool of 16mm film. And of course, with shooting, developing, and dying the film, this would finish off the rest of the budget. All in all, it was a pretty good use of budget.

	Throughout this piece come flying strange copies of items... ...and vaguely remembered images in our Jungian nightmares.

Lasting Appeal
This is a very visually interesting - and technically well-done film; the only problem is that most mainstream audiences will probably not enjoy it. However, I think that the technical quality and the time and effort put into this film are evident in its quality, and artists will understand that. Dragelj's films may not gain a mainstream following, but I think that art film fans will really enjoy his work.

Overall Comment
I don't think that this film will be able to find mainstream acceptance, as most audiences aren't interested in the arthouse style. Yet for the arthouse crowd, Dragelj's films will definitely be well-accepted. While some of his other films are more photo-realistic, Memories of Simulacra will probably be a favorite of fans of abstract art. And even though that might be a small audience, Zoran Dragelj is clearly a very skillful filmmaker who has not only found, but done quite well in his own particular niche.

	Content                   8.0          Visual Look                   8.5          Use of Audio             8.0          Use of Budget             7.5                     Lasting Appeal                        7.0          Overall Score              7.9          How do we critique films? Click Here To See.

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