A cure for melancholy There are feature films, there are documentaries, but few know that sometimes there are paintings at the junction of these two classic categories, which cannot be attributed with absolute certainty to either of them, since they bizarrely combine the inherent features of both documentary and feature films. One example of such works is the film “Four-Eyed Monsters”, which tells about the origin and development of relations between young lovers who met on the Internet, which was filmed by people who are a couple in real life. After watching this film, it was impossible to tell what events actually happened, and what moments were added in order to try to turn the story of two representatives of the “Internet generation” into a real movie. Four-Eyed Monsters has always been marketed as a feature film, but at the same time, much of what was shown in it was actually happening. In 2009, another semi-documentary, semi-fiction film, No One Knows About Persian Cats, was released, featuring young Iranian musicians trying to tell the viewer how difficult it is to engage in creativity in their home country, and despite the problems, music and stories being real, many scenes of the film are staged. And finally, in 2012, the world saw another film that blurred the lines between documentary and feature film. Terence Nance’s debut “Simplifying Her Beauty” tells about the director’s real love for a real girl, but some moments have been changed to give dramatic effect, and the real story of Terence and Namick is still a little different from the one that was shamelessly naked for us by the director on the screen.
One of the first questions you will hear in the movie “Simplification of her beauty” will be a question addressed directly to the viewer: “How would you feel?” From the very beginning of the film, Terence Nance tries to make you a full participant in the action, forcing you to analyze what you saw with the main character, put yourself in his place and look for answers to all the subsequent questions, which will be a lot more. Even if you have never been hopelessly in love with a person who sees you only as a friend, the themes on which the character of the picture, he is a director, tries to think will not leave you indifferent, because in one way or another everyone is familiar to each of us. What is the difference between who you really are, how you see yourself, and who you want to be? How many miles is the chasm that separates the life you dream of from the life you actually have? How can we overcome the terrible mismatch between expectations and reality? How can we accept that the feelings we actually experience are often the exact opposite of the feelings others attribute to us? The film of Terence Nance is a story of unrequited love not only for a girl, it is also a story of unrequited love for the world, which does not want to reciprocate the main character, eager for understanding and recognition. “Simplifying its beauty” is a statement of the sad fact that no matter how hard we try, even overcoming all uncertainty and all fears, the life of our dreams is unlikely to answer “yes” to the offer to live long, happy and die in one day.
Terence Nance’s first and only feature-length film blurs the lines not only between documentary and feature film, but also represents a rattling mixture of a screaming animated film, a classic American independent film that is relentlessly accompanied by sad music, and a home video shot on a simple camera. “Simplification of beauty” is like sad thoughts, hastily and indiscriminately written in the margins of a worn and already filled notebook, in which the past is mixed with the present, and then confronts things that are not even the future, they simply never were. The main character tries to understand that what happened is only a figment of the imagination of a lonely person, eager to find his soul mate, and what really happened in his relationship with a beautiful girl, which show that the line between friendship and love can also be very blurred. As a result, the work of African-American Terence Nance, undeservedly passed almost unnoticed among fans of American independent films, became another fascinating reminder that it is worth keeping a close eye on modern African-centric cinema, which has recently experienced a dizzying rise, giving the world more and more new talent.