Sabbatical

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Audience Member As the digital age is allowing anyone with a camera to be a "filmmaker" it is becoming more challenging for true film artists to find a way to get their work seen. This has been the challenge for SABBATICAL. The plot is deceptively simple: A college professor takes a sabbatical to return to his childhood home less to focus on a new book and far more to provide assistance to his fragile mother who recently suffered a stroke. When he returns his forced to figure out how to "re-connect" not only to his family, former lover and friends but to the core of his identity. The important cinematic elements here have little to do with the actual "story" but far more within the way Brandon Colvin so brilliantly "tells" it. This is a challenging aspect of Colvin's film is what makes it so very important. Not to deny the emotional power the film carries, but this an intense study in Formalist Film Theory. Colvin makes masterful use of Aaron Granat's exceptional cinematography, set design, colors, pacing and literal perspective to communicate the complexities of universal human challenges. Despite his shoestring budget, he has made an extraordinary and masterful work. In addition, his cast seems not to only understand the almost rigid framework in which that requires an almost Avant-Garde minimal approach to acting. Robert Longstreet is one of the most under-valued actors working in film. He is able to convey more with the most casual physicality. But it is Rhoda Griffis who is given the most challenging role as Ben's former lover. When she reads some of our protagonist's writing it is clear that she sees through his Kierkegaard/Nietzschean posing. But,that does not change the fact that Colvin has crafted a film the cinephiles and philosophy lovers will savor from beginning to end. And, while SABBATICAL is clearly a cinematically referential film -- every one from Bresson and Bergman to the more obscure stylings of Jost and Hollis Frampton immediately came to my mind. However, Brandon Colvin is not mimicking, stealing or even borrowing from this great film artists' work. He uses it as jumping point to create a stylistic that is completely unique. There is no hand-holding for the audience here. This is a challenging work of film art. It thrills me to discover an American Independent Filmmaker who is not only talented enough but brave enough to create a film like SABBATICAL. While we don't often have the objectivity and ability to fully evaluate the future impact of a movie -- I am fairly certain that Brandon Colvin has made a film the comes as close to being a cinematic masterpiece I've seen since I snuck into a screening of RAGING BULL and a few years later accidentally stepped into a screening of BLUE VELVET. This film has no real connection to those two iconic movies other than it carries just as much innovation and unsettling power. All the more impressive, Brando Colvin achieves it with a micro budget and within 72 minutes. As SABBATICAL reaches conclusion, the potency of what has been so artistically presented comes to the audience like breath of new air. A few hours later, I realized that Colvin had managed to do more the deliver a potent movie -- he had gut-punched me so quickly that I didn't actually feel the pain until a few hours later. SABBATICAL is a film so clever and intelligent it demands your attention. Unforgettable. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Sabbatical

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