Nothing Personal is a film I've been interested for sometime in seeing but held back for two reasons: firstly, my experience up to this point with the principle actors, Verbeek and Rhea, has been one-dimensional. I had only seen Rhea in Neil Jordan's (a man whose repeated films containing Rhea makes me think of an Irish Burton-Depp relationship) Interview with The Vampire which made me have no opinion at all in reference to his acting capabilities. On the other hand, Ms. Verbeek I had only seen as the beautiful and resourceful Giulia Farnese in Neil Jordan's The Borgia s. However, this film gave me confidence in the opinion that both Verbeek and Rhea are fine artists in their own right and can handle the emotions (sometimes strange and erratic)that Nothing Personal offers. The second reason was that I thought, after reading about the writer and director, this film might be a little TOO European for my liking. As it turned out, Nothing Personal was an oddly interesting debut of Antoniak's talent as a director--the sweeping views that the audience was graced with of the Irish countryside were breathtaking as was the quaint home of Rhea's character, Martin. Admittedly, there were aspects of this film that didn't quite read: the sparse dialogue worked in some instances but on a whole didn't quite help me figure out exactly where these two characters, who were on the surface quite interesting, where they came from. Unfourtunetley, there were long spaces of screen time where, in the midst of Verbeek's character packing up her tent or struggling up the hills of Ireland's coastal region, I almost fell asleep. In fact, it was because of this plot-less venturing that led me to give up on this movie the first time I watched it. However, some positive points to this film was that the acting was subtly beautiful: both Verbeek and Rhea had this wonderful and understated chemistry that made total sense with their character's relationship. And my favourite part of the whole movie was where both Verbeek and Rhea's characters forsake the isolated house of Martin's to go out for a drink at the local pub. Seeing Verbeek try to Irish step dance and finally socialize for the first time in the whole film was a heart warming experience. Another scene that I found breathtaking (yet another promising start for Antoniak) was Verbeek's character blowing the tall grass of the highlands into a frenzy with her own breath as a gift to Martin. It sounds kind of strange writing it down but when you see it, it's a lovely scene between Rhea and Verbeek's characters, another crack in their odd companionship void of personal intrusion. I can't very well explain the subtle beauty that Antoniak's film offers nor can I praise every aspect of Verbeek and Rhea's performance without keeping in mind that their are movie goers who haven't yet explored this underrated film and that I'd like to keep the mystery of this film untouched for the time being. It isn't a perfect film and it definitely isn't one of my top Earth Moving Films of My Life. But it is unique and worth taking a look at, if only to see the potential of this up coming filmmaker who, I hope, doesn't disappear into obscurity and instead graces cinema with a new story to share.
Review of Nothing Personal
