Addicted- Film Review

Addicted

July 2011

Cast; Charlotte Clarke, Adelle Mortimer, Kyle Sims, Claire Thompson, Chenice Clarke

Director; Lauren Turner

Running Time; Approximately 9 minutes

Distributor; www.youtube.com

Certificate; 15

 The film consists of five main characters, Charlotte Clarke, Adelle Mortimer, Kyle Sims, Claire Thompson, Chenice Clarke living ordinary lives. As you learn more about these characters you discover that each suffers from an addiction that controls their lives. Drug abuse, Love, Anorexia, and OCD are phenomenally portrayed in this short, mind blowing film.

  The film starts with a red title in the opening sequence; this has been used effectively in demonstrating how dangerous these addictions are. This is a very accurate use of the symbolism of the colour red. 

  The first scene focuses on drugs. The camera has been positioned beautifully; by cutting off the actresses head the director de humanised her identity which represents how a person changes through the use of drug abuse. The audience can relate to Charlotte's character through her reluctance to take the drugs and how she feels forced to do so through peer pressure.

  Love is the second addiction that is shown in the film. This is not generally seen as an addiction; however the effect of love creates withdrawal symptoms when the love is no longer there. Adelle and Kyle represent an idea of love that doesn't coincide with the Hollywood Romanticism of love; they show themselves to be content in their day to day routine. When they are watching the television, their actions become monumental to the relationship. This film reflects that the characters are extremely content once the traditional out look is removed, this is demonstrated when the male does the hoovering. 

  The third part of the film is Anorexia. The character emphasises her happiness with herself when she only ate an apple. This is very effective in a sense of ironic development to the scene as apples are known as the key fruit symbolised with health through the children's rhyme of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'. This is contrasted with the role of anorexia, a well known disease that the audience will find easy to relate to. However, the directors choice of costume for one of the blogs makes the actress seem thinner than she does in earlier scenes. This interrupts the fluency of the chronological order of the piece.

 The fourth part of the film is Obsessive compulsive disorder. This is portrayed by the actress as the condition is less commonly associated with OCD as generally people expect them to be 'clean freaks' but Chenice showed a different side of the addiction as a 'checker'. The repetitive actions shown throughout emphasize her illness; the scene appears brighter than the other three addictions raised however this could be as the character is represented to be happier with her addiction compared to the other characters.

  Overall a fantastic mind opening film, a definite Turner success, with a complex story line that worked absolutely beautifully.