1.

Assignments

1. Compare these reviews carefully then find the similarities and differences between these
two different reviews of the same movie

Review Type 1

Nicola: A Touching Story (2018) review

April 12, 2018 By Carl Burgess

Suffering from a rare condition, Nicola is forced to face her fears when her
home is invaded in the short film Nicola: A Touching Story from director Dev Seth.

Newly-weds Leon and Nicola move into their new home and to celebrate Leon invites
his friends Ryan and Nadya to dinner. Soon the visitors notice that Nicola has some
serious behavior issues and they all comes to a head the next day when Nicola is left
alone to fend for herself when an intruder enters the family home.
Haphephobia is an unusual anxiety disorder, characterized by an intense fear of
being touched. It’s fair to say that many people find the idea of being touched by
strangers or being touched without consent quite uncomfortable anyway.
Usually, this disorder is the result of experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event
that involved being touched in some way. The individual who suffers from it may not
remember the exact event that triggered the phobia, particularly if they were very
young at the time, but they can still come across as extremely difficult to strangers
and loved ones who do not understand the illness. Thankfully there are a number of
techniques used by psychologists and Doctors in order to successfully treat the
problem. Haphephobia was certainly a disorder I was unaware of, that is, until I saw
writer/director Dev Seth’s fifteen-minute debut film Nicola: A Touching Story in
which the illness plays a huge part.
Opening with a number of atmospheric edits of cityscapes, drone shots, and the
British suburbs, we are left in no doubt something just isn’t quite right. Is the film
a thriller or a drama? Seth’s flashy editing techniques during the opening salvo
kept us guessing.
A young couple, Leon and Nicola, have been having dinner with friends to
celebrate their nuptials and their new home when, as the guests are leaving, the realise
Nicola ishiding upstairs in the bedroom. After being gently coaxed down by her
husband Leon, Nicola says her goodbyes but then goes on to react quite violently to
being hugged by their mutual friend.
It’s an important moment that is the catalyst for the rest of the film and it needs
to be sold. Thankfully, Amelia Eve (playing the suffering Nicola) is up for the
challenge. She sells the moment brilliantly and, from then on, we totally believe that
her troubles are very real indeed. She is helped by Peter Svatik who plays her husband
Leon. Svatik is a dashing, impressive presence who manages to anchor the emotional
weight of the film. He is certainly up to no good when he makes his cheeky mobile
phone calls but he also certainly loves his wife. Svatik manages to portray the
character, who has a secret, both caring and seedy with aplomb and our loyalties to

him are tested throughout the film.

As Leon leaves for work, Nicola is left on her own when, at the door, a
stranger knocks. He convinces Nicola that he has come to fix the boiler, however,
neither Nicola or Leon have arranged this and our intruder precedes to terrorise Nicola
for the remainder of the film. Sam Dunning is extremely menacing in this role;
switching from chirpy cockney to tormentor in chief in an instant. It’s a strong
performance and one I would have loved to have seen more of.
Considering the small and limited locations of the film, cinematographer James
Martini manages to do a fine job of creating a sense of confusion and space with some
of his shot choices. Meanwhile, the soundtrack composed by Stewart Dugdale
remained consistently haunting throughout.
If I had one major gripe it would be being left a little bamboozled by Seth’s
choice to use subtitles? The film is in English but with English subtitles. I would like
to think they wereused for people who are hard of hearing. Unfortunately, the cynic in
me thinks they were put in to disguise the less than stellar sound production in the
first few scenes.
Overall Nicola: A Touching Story is an unusual but decent film focusing on
an aberrantillness and because of the educational value alone, I am happy to
recommend it. It is a fine debut film from Dev Seth who has the talent to go on and
make many more interesting projects and I will look forward to seeing what he comes
up with next.
http://screencritix.com/nicola-a-touching-story-2018-review/
Review Type 2
April 15, 2018

UK Film Review

Written and Directed by Dev Seth

Starring Peter Svatik, Amelia Eve, Sam Dunning, Ryan Graham, Nadezda
Maksimenko
Short Film Review by Hannah Sayer

NICOLA - A Touching Story short

film
Is true love accepting someone
for who they are or trying to help
them by pushing them out of their
comfort zone? This is the lasting
question which Dev Seth’s debut
short film NICOLA – A Touching
Story asks the viewer to consider.

The short film takes place in the

home of newly married couple Leon
(Peter Svatik) and Nicola (Amelia
Eve). Leon has invited his friends
Ryan (Ryan Graham) and Nadya
(Nadezda Maksimenko) to their new
home and the film opens with the
three friends getting along well,
happy and enjoying their evening.
However while they’re all having a
good time,
 Nicola is in another part of the house alone. As Ryan and Nadya are leaving they
wait to say goodbye to Nicola who returns acting fidgety, anxious and avoiding
eye contact with the couple. Ryan goes to hug Nicola, thinking that this is the
right course of action when interacting with someone who is upset, but she pushes
him away and runs off. This causes Ryan and Nadya’s suspicions to increase as
they are very concerned by Nicola’s strange and unexplained behaviour. A few
days after this intense evening a conversation between Nicola and Leon reveals to
the viewer that Nicola is in fact suffering from a rare phobia called haphephobia.
Haphephobia is the fear of touching or being touched and the short film
highlights the impacts this phobia is having on Nicola’s life, especially on her
relationship with Leon. After this conversation between the couple, Nicola is
alone at home when an intruder Michael (Sam Dunning) who pretends to be there
to look at their boiler enters her home and begins terrorising her. What follows is
a tense encounter which climaxes with a revelation about the root of Nicola’s
trauma and a breakthrough.

The confined setting of the house adds to the intensity in the second half
of the film as the home invasion takes place. The use of blurry shots can be
disorientating for the viewer and the cinematography often reinforces Nicola’s
state of mind, especially when used in this way during flashbacks to the traumatic
event. The use of slow motion adds to this intensity when touching is taking place
to reinforce the fear this brings to Nicola. The shooting style and aesthetic of the
short is realistic yet the haunting music juxtaposes this. The music adds to the
eerie atmosphere from the outset and makes the viewer question what is really
wrong with Nicola when the short film has not gone into detail about her battle
with haphephobia. By not disclosing Nicola’s condition to the viewer during her
initial interaction with Leon’s guests, their suspicions and the uncertainty as to
what is going on successfully reinforces this sinister and tense atmosphere from
the outset.

Overall, NICOLA – A Touching Story is a well-acted and intriguing short

film which explores an important subject within an intense and gripping story.
https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/single-post/2018/04/14/NICOLA---A-Touching-
Story-short-film

2. Read This Review and write your analysis on Social function, generic
structure and language features about the review. Complete the table below!

Alzhaimour

It's not often that the word romantic can be used when viewing a film
dealing with the subject of Alzheimer's, but such is the case with Belgian director
Pierre van de Kerckhove's no-budget 15-minute short film Alzhaimour, an
endearing and warm-hearted short currently experience tremendous success on the
film festival circuit.

Once you've seen the film, you won't be surprised.

Alzhaimour stars Brigitte Louveaux as Louise, a 68-year-old woman living

in a nursing home with Alzheimer's Disease, her only human contact being fellow
residents, kindly staff and the occasional visit from her otherwise distracted son,
Daniel.

Then, Leo arrives.

Played by Yves Jadoul, the 82-year-old Leo arrives at the nursing home
with a dash of Errol Flynn inter-mixed with his equally challenging diagnosis of
Alzheimer's. For Louise, however, Leo sparks something special inside and about
the time Daniel arrives for a visit he ends up getting much more than he ever
bargained for.

Winner of at least 26 awards during its first 3 months on the film festival
circuit, Alzhaimour is an intelligent and inspired love story, a sweet and
sentimental little short film that will hold your interest from beginning to end and
likely have you dancing in your own seat thanks to the energized, electrified
musical accompaniment.

While films about Alzheimer's are often viewed through the lens of
tragedy, Alzhaimour is actually about two people who have Alzheimer's and it's
definitely a love story.

The film benefits from two terrific performances from its co-leads. Brigitte
Louveaux is a quiet, understated joy as Louise, a woman who seems to soak up
every ounce of love and affection she can find and whose entire physical being
changes when Leo begins to pay her more than a little attention.

Yves Jadoul, whom the director noted had recently passed away, leaves
behind a legacy that is quite beautiful and a performance here that is spry, fun,
lively and immensely loving. Alzhaimour is a refreshingly human look at a
disease that can so often be dehumanizing. This film is a joy.

© Written by Richard Propes

The Independent Critic
http://theindependentcritic.com/alzhaimour

Component analysis Meaning Evidence

Social Fuction
Generic Structure

Language features