As wind agitated the grass and the trees and inched closer to the explosive climax of “Family Portrait”, one could almost ascribe that the sound is a character itself in the film, a technique that has been used well in this particularly well directed film that is selflessly more of a surrealistic opera rather than an exercise in cinematic broadband. Max and Kira, the protagonists, take place during the twilight of the reaction to COVID film. It is an eerie film, a dramatic reconstruction instilling that odd feeling that something undesirable is either going to happen or has already happened, and you have the usual practice of press people of a smiling household, plastic smiles as they call it. This is what may leave the viewers of ‘Family Portrait’ with the idea that it is a soap opera when hundreds of directors, not only Kerr, use the same events to explore the relationships between family members and their in-laws. But that isn’t quite the case here. Their household structure is a fairly sound one. As many were during early 2020.
There is no doubt that Kerr’s opening shot is one of the year’s best openings in cinema. Holding the shot in dead silence we are looking at a group of well-off enjoying people walking through a field, which in a way is reminiscent of a family gathering. It is exactly this kind of hovering feeling in the eyes of the active participant embedded in the cause and effect aspect of the film that engages the viewer but also helps to establish a unique fluid visual language for the film. A movement extends off this character just as she is walking into another fast paced moving frame that she is not able to keep up or slants off to someone else’s track so the frame is changing almost like it is billowing in the wind. Quiet at the beginning, without the usual alarming noises associated with such an active occasion, noise slowly creeps in through the children’s games and adults’ overlapping discussions.
After that tone set scene, Kerr gets comfortable in a very extensive family malpractice where typically everyone converges around at least once a year for: posing for the yearly holiday card. Most scenes unfold with a static camera and are shot almost as if someone has just placed one in the room to capture the sound of conversations and yet that is not to be taken as a knock on Kerr’s powerful vision that even such still frames pose no boredom.
In the end, there is in fact a protagonist in the character of Katy (Deragh Campbell), who has gone to the extent of bringing home her Polish boyfriend Olek (Chris Galust) for a family portrait. Drawn on the counterpoint, tension appears regarding the fact that he is absent from the picture and that there are no coordinates in time to press the camera for an anxious picture with Katy and Olek’s aforementioned flight. There is understanding about some of the recollected international tension and general conversations as well, such as the death of a family member and a pretty intriguing one about a photo that is not really a photo, like family photographs are not always inclusive and don’t tell the whole story.
All attempts to find any clues as to what has happened to the grandmother have met with an equal lack of success. They are unable to operate the photo as long as mommy is missing but only Sabrina appears to be feeling sorry enough. It is either because of the plane she might lose or is it something stranger? In the next long sequence, there is an impression of a continual walk on the grounds and swimming, which is then followed by an accompanying shot to the opening montage, where once again, wet and enveloping, Katy traverses a place filled with her family. Again, Kerr does not treat the shots on Katy in an orthodox fashion, allowing the audience to share her loss and disorientation – both of which would haunt so many people in 2020.
At 74 minutes long, “Family Portrait” leaves odd sensations since it sometimes sounds as if it could better work as a 20-minute “blooper”. That’s the aspect of trying to make a short but feeling that a lot of material has gone in with absolutely no depth or substance to spin into a full length feature film.
Yet mastering the tone as seen here, all the trespasses are easily forgiven in history— much like how we select which information we require to from a family gathering. I am reminded of a still from an annual Tallerico family reunion of my younger years and the rather illuminating conversations with interactions about the photo that usually concluded these reunions. If I shut my eyes, I can clearly hear the breeze.
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