Alex and Eve (Peter Andrikidis, 2015): Australia

Reviewed by Adam Holm, Santa Barbara film festival 2016. Fiesta Theater.

“Alex and Eve” was a feel-good film and a nice production with all you need to make a successful film. The quality in the cinematography and editing was good, the script was decent for a love story and the acting was nice too. Nothing special, but everything was decent. First of all i think that the love story about Alex and Eve was trying to be a Hollywood cliché film with a lot of cheesy punch lines and the happy-ending. Sometimes i was honestly thinking if they were trying to make a cheesy Hollywood-parody of cliché films from the 90’s. I will say that i really liked the theme and the main purpose of the film, because it was a love story between two human beings living in two completely different cultures, even though that they lived in the same city; Sidney. Making a lovestory bewteen two persons that live in two completely different societys and envoirments, but still in the same city is a really good idea. I do also think that the whole plot was to cheesy and looked like something i have seen on american films or television in my whole childhood.

The acting in “Alex and Eve” was as i mentioned really decent, but it didn’t blow my mind. Especially the main character, Alex did a really good job, but you could easily feel that they were memorizing from a script during the whole film. They had too less improvising, and way too many cheesy punchlines in the actual script. I actually think the first 30 minutes of the film was the best, which is why i also think the film is worth seeing. We get an individually introduction to each character, their completely different lifes, friends and work. This introduction is good, because it leads up to them getting into a relationship.

When it comes to the visual part of “Alex and Eve” it was very decent and nicely done, but again… Nothing special like the rest of the whole production. The cinematography was nice, good quality and had it’s moments, but everything was still shot on a tripod and had no movement at all. You can’t put a finger on the editing or color grading because that was actually on point for the films visual style. A reference to antoher film could be any other Hollywood blockbuster that tells about unforbidden love between two different cultures. The ending with the main character picking his love up at another wedding, and then they live happy ever after is something i have seen in so many films, that i can’t even pick one to mention.

But if you like lovestorys with a happy ending and you are interested in watching a top-profesionnal production from Australia – then “Alex and Eve” is just the right film for you.