A beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of what I can only recognise as post-university life: Miso, struggling to pay the rising monthly cost of rent, medicine, food, cigarettes and whisky, tries to crash with old friends while she finds somewhere cheaper.
Once bandmates, these friends have gone their own ways. Some want nothing to do with her, others a little too much, but what unites these re-encounters is Miso's open, unashamed charm and the devastating effect this has on her friends. Friends who, while only a little way up the road of compromises that seem to make up adult life, can't bear to be faced with someone who is not yet compromised.
Miso will pay for this. But my conclusion was not to judge her refusal to change, or either to condemn the so-called "friends" unable to take her seriously, but to lament the overwhelming misery of it all. The city is too expensive. It demands not compromise but servitude from those like Miso who lack support. She would have to give up all her joy to meet its standards. And this was the choice of her friends, and worse, a choice taken as necessity. (Meaning they fail to respect her choice to do otherwise).
The film is well paced, subtle and timed. The cinematography was soft, deep and understated: teetering between aesthetic/attractive and pragmatic/unconscious successfully. Similarly, the editing has style but also purpose, never distracting from the world of the film.
It's difficult to say just how impressed I am by Microcosm. Just that I can only begin to wonder why such a great film flew so low, and that I start getting annoyed when I do.
Once bandmates, these friends have gone their own ways. Some want nothing to do with her, others a little too much, but what unites these re-encounters is Miso's open, unashamed charm and the devastating effect this has on her friends. Friends who, while only a little way up the road of compromises that seem to make up adult life, can't bear to be faced with someone who is not yet compromised.
Miso will pay for this. But my conclusion was not to judge her refusal to change, or either to condemn the so-called "friends" unable to take her seriously, but to lament the overwhelming misery of it all. The city is too expensive. It demands not compromise but servitude from those like Miso who lack support. She would have to give up all her joy to meet its standards. And this was the choice of her friends, and worse, a choice taken as necessity. (Meaning they fail to respect her choice to do otherwise).
The film is well paced, subtle and timed. The cinematography was soft, deep and understated: teetering between aesthetic/attractive and pragmatic/unconscious successfully. Similarly, the editing has style but also purpose, never distracting from the world of the film.
It's difficult to say just how impressed I am by Microcosm. Just that I can only begin to wonder why such a great film flew so low, and that I start getting annoyed when I do.