QFest Movie Reviews: Fiona's Script

On Friday, Mister Curie was kind enough to watch Petite Curie for the night so that I could attend the first session of QFest. I thought I would provide a little synopsis of each movie I saw.

Fiona's Script
Fiona's Script was my opening movie of the festival. This movie was billed as a "coming of age" story about a cute, queer Latina. Fiona is a 20-something daydreamer who recently broke up with her long-term boyfriend Sebastian. On the rebound, she starts working on a screenplay about a "prototypical romance," which is essentially a mirror image of her own psyche. To move on from Sebastian, Fiona also starts crushing on a tall, slender, gorgeous African-American named "L". When she loses her job at the bookstore and is offered the opportunity to produce her script as a play, Fiona accepts. But when her old boyfriend wants Fiona back after she finally is getting somewhere with L, confusion abounds.

The movie had a good premise - how do you move past post-heartbreak inertia and let the breakup motivate you to change and grow? I could have looked past the film's low budget and poor acting quality (indeed, it's actually humorous to watch poor actors pretend to be poor actors, and realize you can't tell when they are acting and when they are pretending). But the movie didn't see to know where it was headed itself. The plot line was disjointed. Incorporation of series of dreams and daydream sequences with unknown characters, bodies of water, and babies only added to the confusion. No one seemed to be able to communicate. And worst of all, the ending was very unsatisfying.

Spoilers (highlight to read): When Sebastian walks back into Fiona's life, she decides to stay with L. However, while professing her commitment to L, Fiona notices another girl's handbag stuffed beside L's bed. We learn that L has been unfaithful. Rather than acknowledge the betrayal, Fiona just breaks off the affair with L mid-sentence - AFTER the heartfelt "I want you and only you" - and leaves the room. In the next scene, she decides that she doesn't want to write screenplays afterall, and the film ends with a series of confusing dream sequences.

All in all, a frustrating disappointment, despite the cute actresses and the ease with which queerness was portrayed.

My grade for Fiona's Script: D