Dark Side of the Moon

While the storyline had some merit displaying some of the most difficult family structures and relationships that are true to life in a fairly realistic and dramatic way, I feel that the script ruined the impact with gratuitous vulgarity unnecessary to the storyline. It cheapened the sacredness of the subject matter without redeeming or enhancing anything. Some of the acting was convincing and some was amateurish being slightly overdone and overly dramatic but it was generally "well done", even if it wasn't exactly Oscar worthy. The Director, who is also the Writer, shows a distinct lack of class in the handling of this film. In this, at least, he was consistent. A better Director could have added a tempering effect that could have redeemed this story and also could have brought the best out of the actors. The cinematography was competent, displaying a decent grasp of the technical aspects of filmmaking but wasn't particularly extraordinary. The use of black and white throughout, however, was both good and bad because, while creating a certain mood that worked somewhat well with the darkish theme, after several minutes it started to become taxing to witness so little change in the atmosphere as the mind struggles to reconcile the vintage aura with the modern characters and settings. Personally, I could not finish the film. There is potential here that can never arise beyond the baser limits of the Writer/Director who ought to clean up his script then hand it over to a more qualified Director. I couldn't help but sense the imposition of a certain element of narcissism being injected into his work, an ill founded vanity with no merit or foundation other than intellectual arrogance. I would not recommend this film to anyone.