Directed by: Signe Baumane
Distributed by: TBA
Written by Alexander Reams
60/100
There are many ways to begin a movie/TV show, establishing shot, cold open, opening title sequence, but of all of those ways, the one I never would have thought of is how babies are made, and I don’t mean a sex scene, I mean an actual explanation of how babies are created, animated in a very minimalist style while still allowing room for emotions to be conveyed, even in faces. Signe Baumane’s “My Love Affair With Marriage” does just this, an opening that feels out of place, until the rest of the film continues, children play a huge part in a marriage, they change the dynamics of a household tremendously, so it would make sense that children also play a huge part in divorce. This is where Baumane chooses to spend the majority of the runtime focusing on marriages that did not work out. While this has always been a fascinating subject to Hollywood, the reverence needed for the subject matter is not always there (“Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Marriage Story” are two that come to mind that do have reverence for their subject matter).
Baumane’s creative decision to do the film in an animated style worked in its favor throughout, using animation to evoke and demonstrate feelings that we as humans can comprehend, though they’re hard to describe. Baumane beautifully crafts the emotion necessary to showcase a marriage falling apart. I felt every emotional beat, but the pacing kills the silent moment that so much of the film hangs on. Tender moments between characters feel rushed and the moments I couldn’t care less about, which were more frequent in the second half, stayed for far too long. Unfortunately, this left me with a poor taste in my mouth despite all of the greatness that seeped through the cracks in the first act, everything fell apart in the end. By the time the credits rolled I found it very hard to care about anything I just saw, an ending can be everything, but it can kill the movie as well, the latter has happened here.
“My Love Affair With Marriage” Trailer
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