Title: First Blush
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Victor Neumark
Starring: Rachel Alig, Ryan Caraway, Kate Beecroft
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
What It Is: Nena (Alig) and Drew (Caraway) are a happily married couple. At least on the surface. Nena has eyes for Olivia (Beecroft) and invites her into their marriage. Now the throuple are doing their thing…but at what cost? Is Nena truly happy about this arrangement? About her marriage? Her doubts with everything begin to manifest themselves. A relationship with one person is difficult, imagine if you can having to be in a situationship with two people?
What We Think: There’s some good acting here, even if the script isn’t exactly…good. That’s not to say that this particular film lacks in its attempted messages merit. Rachel Alig hammers home her characters feelings really well. Both of the leads are super likable. Even the “homewrecker” Olivia is really well done by Kate Beecroft. One thing about this is I love the look of the film. It is overall a good looking feature. Which given the lower budget is an impressive feat. That, for me, is what stands out. Even if everything else doesn’t quite hit the way I am sure the directors wanted.
Our Grade: C+, This was a pretty good film. One that fans of independent cinema will certainly enjoy. Nonetheless I can’t say that you should go out of your way to check this one out. The actors are really putting their best foot forward despite the script provided not necessarily being up to the task of getting them to resolution. Looking at this makes me think of what could’ve been here rather then what was. It’s that potential that’ll haunt the filmmakers knowing that something beyond this grade might’ve been there’s. That said I’l watch out for Neumark’s next project…maybe my mind can be changed on him as a director.