OVID.TV Presents DEDALUS Film Review — Slow Moving Triptych

Posted on by Ben Lindner

In Iowa, a woman drives home after the worst day of her life. The tears that run down her face smear her makeup. The dust on the roads flys into the air. As she speeds away from her home, she is alone.

In New York City, a young man pays for lunch. The older man whom he eats with is surprised; the young man has never paid before. The young man knows what he did to get the money was wrong, but he will do anything to make the older man finally love him back

In Los Angeles, a very old man moves in with his daughter. His doctor has told him that his body is deteriorating. He and his daughter embrace, knowing that they may not have many embraces left.

These people do not know one another, but they have in common that they are all at their absolute lowest.

OVID.tv’s DEDALUS creates a melancholic atmosphere in three parts

Writer, director and producer Jonah Greenstein’s Dedalus is slow and deliberate, focusing more on capturing a strong mood rather than a driving plot.  The static camera lingers on each of these characters for a long time, as they go through their lives. We become passive observers.

How the script tells each story with very little dialogue is a very effective tool, in this writer’s view, to bring us deeply into the powerful emotional terrain of each story. It’s not just the young girl’s tears as she drives, but also the exhausted gaze from her parents as they stare over their moonlit cornfield, and later the stolen glances from the boy who saw everything.  Without words we see how her trauma has poured from her into those around her.  Similarly, in the second story the young man’s expression as he looks into the mirror to see himself as a starving man scarcely resembling the naïve young boy he was just months ago, the arc of the story seems to be captured in one look. In the last part of this triptych, it is when we see the old man calmly taking in the sunset above the ocean waves that we realize that this is the first time we have seen him stand still. In this way the camera reveals his newfound acceptance of his mortality, rather than with any words.

Viewers who tend to focus on plot and a tight script may struggle to engage with this film, but those who can be patient and focus on the aesthetic and mood will be rewarded.  Dedalus will appeal to anyone seeking an emotional, challenging story. This film may also appeal to viewers with a passionate interest in LGBTQ issues and themes.

Reviewer’s advisory: This film contains depictions of sexual violence and graphic sexual imagery

 

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Director, Writer, Producer, Editor: Jonah Greenstein
Starring: Rachel Povse, Alexander Horner, Thomas Jay Ryan, Martin H. Krieger
Music: Adam Boese, Jonah Greenstein
Cinematography: Jonah Greenstein, Jake Saner

Images courtesy of OVID.tv

Ben Lindner

About the Author: Ben Lindner

Ben Lindner loves stories wherever he can find them. Sometimes it’s a story he and his friends collaborate on while playing Dungeons and Dragons. Mostly he gets his story fill watching movies, or diving into video games, comic and podcasts of the compelling tale telling variety.

Outside of finding new stories to love, you can usually find Ben spending too much money at Target and trying to find new pins for his extensive pin collection— that is, when he isn’t working toward his Journalism major and Film minor at Ohio University. Looking to the future, expect to see Ben as a full-time film writer.

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