Remember the cranky “Imagine” video that Gal Gadot and her naive celebrities conceived and posted on social media when the pandemic began in March 2020? Written and directed by Real Life) and filmed on iPhones and laptops around the same time as Gadot’s much-mocked Lockdown Anthem, “The Same Storm” Not much difference. It’s a gesture of goodwill solidarity that desperately tries to be friendly and feels alienated.
The film is a series of vignettes staged as video chat conversations between two parties, with each segment introducing a new lockdown-specific dilemma. It features 24 actors, most of whom are performing at home.
Mary-Louise Parker as a camgirl in a failed attempt to turn on her newest client, a Queens nurse scarred by witnessing too many coronavirus-related deaths. Elaine May Seen as a woman in denial of Covid symptoms, the next scene has the group’s Zoom funeral held in her honor. Join a virtual support group when you relapse following an attempt. etc.
Hedges’ script is so uneven that it fails whenever the issue of racial injustice is brought up. For example, a short story about a young protester (Moses Ingram) arguing with his police officer father (K. Todd Freeman) over attending a rally. Black Lives Matter Rally — Often similar to some kind of corporate diversity and inclusion training.
At the beginning of the film, the conditions of the shoot are revealed — May fumbles with the camera and the rest of the cast grins coyly as they prepare to enact the drama of the public. increase. Some stories are more compelling than others, but most are just plain boring. Especially now that lockdown surrealism has lost its edge.
This movie proves at least one thing. That said, like many of us, Hedges and his actors were clearly pressed for time.
same storm
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. at the theater.