'Play Pretend' (2024) Dir. Sophie-Dominique Parea - 12/15

BRETT SIXTYSIX

4/5

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DIA TAYLOR

If there is one thing I am a sucker for it is a realistic romance so I admit that I review this film with some bias. ‘Play Pretend’ directed by Sophie-Dominique Parea tells the story of two friends who one night fall in love for an hour while discussing the realities behind relationships.

The first thing I have to comment on is the chemistry between our two leads; Damian Reyers-Fox and Ana Parvu. Romantic films are built around chemistry and so often watching short Indie romances I often feel it’s an area they lack in. But not so for this film. From the moment I saw these two together I felt something. Whether this be in the actor’s skills or that of the director, I wish I knew but a rare thing to find indeed. Every quiet moment, every look, every gesture feels genuine and for a moment I forgot I was watching two actors and not two people in love.

Play Pretend follows a very European style of filmmaking that I love too where stories are pushed forward by characters and dialogue, not just events. As our two leads discuss relationships and how they are doomed to fail or how they take away from you time after time until there is nothing left, you are captivated hearing the insight these two young people have, and whether you agree or not with them, it is hard to pull away.

Where the film does fall flat I felt was more in its technical aspect than its performance. I was a bit confused with the sudden shift in time until we were brought back to reality. The art department could have focused a bit more on removing fire extinguishers and signs from the location that stopped the house from feeling like a home. The cinematography is good but with some more stylised lighting inside the house, I feel it could have been closer to a Hollywood level. Sometimes the camera does lose focus which pulls you out momentarily but the performances bring you right back in again.

Excellent choices in music I will say.

ALL IN ALL:

‘Play Pretend’ is a fantastic example of a good performance elevating its technical downfalls. A thought provoking piece that moved me and made me tell my partner that I loved them.

MY RATING: 4/5

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DANIEL BUGEJA

‘Play Pretend’ blew me away in a lot of ways, while it did have its flaws, writer and director Sophie-Dominique Parea shows a remarkable talent for character writing and understanding of story beats.

The start of ‘Play Pretend’ is a little rocky as we are introduced to the only two characters in the film, ‘Teo’ (played by Damian Reyers-Fox) and ‘Mia’ (Ana Parvu). While their initial exchange is a bit awkward - an understandable challenge getting two characters to feel natural when we have no context of these characters - the pair, in the scenes to follow, bring their skills to bat and they score a homerun in my opinion.

As the story unfolds, we learn that ‘Mia’ is going on a date shortly and ‘Teo’ is a close friend, but could they be more? is a sense they both share. We get to see all this through banter, body language, and a conversation on what is true love. The two do a dance of temptation though the film all the while querying each other’s emotions. The team behind the film did themselves to help bring the trepidation that many feel over relationships.

The Cinematography by Ayush Singh feels like it has a strong European style, but this may be me reading too much and pairing this style of plot with a lot of European films I know. Although early on the tight framing made it feel claustrophobic as the character get into full swing I found myself feel a sense of closeness between the two, so I’d day overall the framing was fantastic, in terms of focus however, I did see some shots go in and out, while some shots where soft and then cut to a crisp shot which was a little jarring, In all honesty I preferred the shots that where a little soft as they brought a dreamy feeling to the film. If the difference in shots was an intentional play to show the different characters’ views, I would say the difference was too extreme and the mark was missed unfortunately. Similarly, early on the dialogue was a little muffled, however this cleared up and was backed by a solid and effective composition by Michael Hurst and well executed by sound mixer Felix Lagers to beautifully support moments when needed.

This is not the only instance where the team behind ‘Play Pretend’ to be a masterwork of relationship storytelling, the production design by Sydney Waldman is on point in every scene of the film. I have named dropped a lot of the crew behind these films because I feel they deserve to be recognized for their efforts, constantly again and again through the film I saw little details of attention from the previously mentioned production design to the lighting that enhanced the directing and cinematography and what remains is a film that is far from talking heads, its enthralling seeing these characters prod each other with tentative questions and statements playing a game teetering love. Only one scene got away from me, in the middle of the film there sits a scene outside of the rest of the timeline, that made no sense to me of when it happens and this scene had the best acting hands down, my lack of understanding did not detract but it left me wondering.

To close it out from start to finish, ‘Play Pretend’ is a poetic story of love that can or can’t be, which will begin a fascinating journey with these characters.

MY RATING: 4/5