KAZIK RADWANSKI: ANNE AT 13,000 FEET (2019) - NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMSDERAGH CAMPBELL IN ANNE AT 13,000 FEETPortrait of a woman in disfunctionAnne (Deragh Campbell) is seen almost nauseatingly up close in this minimalist, leanly edited, music-free portrait of a dysfunctional young woman trying to set out on her own. We see her twice, start and finish, sky-dive from a small plane, and it's not a more out-of-control moment than usual. In fact, while falling through the air is one time when Anne isn't likely to do something unpredictable and disruptive. She moves out from her mother to her own place, takes a part-time daycare center job and starts dating a guy, but does this mean she's got things under control or is out on her own? Not really. Radwanski, his star, and his editor are doing top work here. There's only the little nagging question: is it worth it?
Deragh Campbell has been seen in a number of ND/NF films, including last year's oddball
MS Slavic 7, and Radwanski produced another portrait of a lost adult child,
Tower, seen in ND/NF 2013 (I rated it "sub mumblecore") The current effort, which takes us through Anne's moments of charm and strong empathy with children at the daycare and her childlike clumsiness with fellow workers and social contacts, has been compared to John Cassavetes working with wife Gena Rowlands in
A Woman Under the Influence, but maybe those who're making that comparison need to go back and look at the original. This film feels more like a reality show. There is a lack of depth or humanity here.
Anne at 13,000 Feat, 75 mins., debuted at Toronto Sept 2019, and was shown at a half dozen other festivals in 2020 including Vancouver, AFI, Portland, and now, ND/NF, in its delayed Dec. 2020 virtual pandemic edition.