Coverage (2008) - By Joshua LeSuer

Film Reviews: Coverage (2008) - By Joshua LeSuer
Posted on Thursday, July 02, 2009 @ 05:11:27 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

From IMDB (Plot Description): The events and subsequent media coverage of September 11th, 2001 create a sexual obsession that threatens to destroy a relationship.

Okay, "Crash" was weird and twisted. In a very good way. The "collisions as jack-off fodder" theme wasn't the point or the draw of the film, it was just some insanity that unspooled from these very eccentric, yet strangely believable, characters. Were their feelings wrong? Perverted? Who knows? Really, who wants to? The genitals are very curious symbiotes. Pleasing them is akin to a brilliant writer trying to court a pissy muse.

"Coverage": I had such high hopes for it. The second scene is so brimful of life, the early camerawork flooded with colors that feel vibrant and very, very real. The actors--these people have fascinating faces, and watching the tiny shifts of emotion and tension and thought in the muscles around eyes and mouths in the beginning moments was truly a pleasure.

Then the film's agenda reared up and I completely unplugged. It's not that I found the notion of 9/11 as porn to be in any way repellent. Well, as a human being, of course. But in fiction, there are no taboos. I just really was turned off by the way the film wore its theme on its sleeves, like gaudy cuff links.

For instance, three minutes in, 9/11 footage and commentary totally saturates the senses, totally drowning any human moment. The proper way to have done this would've been to show these people going about their lives, and every once in a while, they pass a television, just in the background, muted colors, muted sounds, just the ghost of the horror. That would be far more haunting.

Satire must be done subtly, or characters devolve into archetypes, and message and meaning are lost.

If you'd like to find out more about this film, you can check out the film's website at http://www.coveragefilm.com.