WHALE

I just had the pleasure of watching Amir Motlagh's feature "WHALE".
It's a film about Cameron, an orange county native, west coast writer who returns to live/hang out at his parents house while in an artistic/emotional rut. The film opens on a distraught Cameron leaving messages on the voicemail of the woman who just destroyed his heart.
Writer/Director Amir is a fresh cinematic voice from the west coast. Distinctly schooled in technique yet has a unique approach to aesthetic over narrative. The film was more of a poem then a tradional story and I love that!
There is an exciting use of photography that is as cinematic as any of the footage. The music is emotionally driven and the realistic dialogue only takes second place to great characters. Whale comes in at a trim 75 minutes and though I wanted more, the pacing was perfect, the ending was excellent! The highlight of the film, for me, was the skateboarding footage. Recalls to mind, some of the beautiful skateboarding photography in Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park".
This is a film that I am proud to have seen early and am sure is going to be well received by the indie film community as a fresh new voice, in a seemingly outspoken indie film community.

WATCH THE TRAILER!

whale_feature film trailer_director Amir Motlagh from Amir Motlagh on Vimeo.

For more info on the Filmmaker:
http://amirmotlagh.com/

*Editorial Note-
I've been working with Amir on a film project in NYC, and have thoroughly enjoyed working with him. That aside, I still feel I am able to offer unbias praise for his film!

-RYAN ANDREW BALAS