The low budget British/Irish was film divided critics in the UK, some did not like it but others including the highly respected Mark Kermode loved it. But the audience reaction on IMDb has been negative (amidst from a low base) and this is an example of a divide between critics and audiences over some lesser known films.
Set in an unnamed town in England or Ireland a teenage girl disappears and the police plan to conduct a reconstruction for investigation. A girl from the same college, Helen (Annie Townsend) is picked to play Joy. Helen is a girl who has been in care since a young age and she soon compares her life to Joy's and slowly gets to know Joy's love ones as well as being given the opportunity to finally find out about her past on her 18th Birthday.
Helen is an experimental film, it was directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, a directing duo who previously worked on short films. Helen is essentially a short film stretched to become a (short) feature length film because of the extremely slow pacing. There short films and Helen are filmed using a special technique that relies on shooting on 35mm cameras, long shots and unprofessional, local actors. The acting is big problem with this feature because of a lot of it stiff, wooden or just down right bad. Townsend was best when she was alone playing a meek, quiet gorl who is actually longing for more and speaks to Joy on the path she would have taken but at times it felt like she had not personality at all and did not have one written for her. An example of bad acting is with the parents who just seems so stiff and no emotion even though their daughter has disappeared: normally they is some sort of reaction to a tragic event like that.
They is a nice, quiet visial to the film, it is not grand or grim and gritty. I personally like long takes, long shots for the most part. I particularly like the visuals in the woods and the park. This gave Helen a more natural feel. But at other times I felt the film needed a cut to break thinks up and see another action/reaction. Maybe it is because the camera was in the wrong place or simply the acting was not good enough, compared to a 10 minute scene in Hunger that was one take and it was really compelling because of the acting. Helen's scene just drag and the film breaks basic screen writing rules like enter late, leave early: it does the opposite.
I was also slightly confused by the setting because the police uniforms looked like they were not from the UK and the accents were all over the place, some of Liverpulian, others Irish and some just general English. The filmmakers should have stuck to a board area of the UK to show that this could happen anywhere. Also elements of the police investigation felt really fault, like getting a local girl to play Joy, wouldn't the police get an actor from outside so family and friends would not have any ties to the person or when the police find the jacket they would have to keep as evidence and keep it in the evidence bag.
There were some really good ideas in Helen but it could have been explored. It starts out well enough showing Joy with her walking with her mates in the park and when she goes off alone it is the last time never to be seen again. It would be a good start to a thriller. The story could have gone in a number of directions, like the parents trying to do what happened to their daughter or the stress seeing some random girl trying to be their daughter, maybe friends of Joy questioning why Helen is trying to be like Joy and take over her live, the parents seeing Helen and confuse her for Joy, the impact of the disappearance on the college and the community or Helen seeing she looks similar to Joy and tries to find one more about the girl and even tries to take her boyfriend. Or it simply could be a girl who lived in care tries to find out more about her own past.
Helen is interesting it does have a good idea behind it but the execution was lacking.
Set in an unnamed town in England or Ireland a teenage girl disappears and the police plan to conduct a reconstruction for investigation. A girl from the same college, Helen (Annie Townsend) is picked to play Joy. Helen is a girl who has been in care since a young age and she soon compares her life to Joy's and slowly gets to know Joy's love ones as well as being given the opportunity to finally find out about her past on her 18th Birthday.
Helen is an experimental film, it was directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, a directing duo who previously worked on short films. Helen is essentially a short film stretched to become a (short) feature length film because of the extremely slow pacing. There short films and Helen are filmed using a special technique that relies on shooting on 35mm cameras, long shots and unprofessional, local actors. The acting is big problem with this feature because of a lot of it stiff, wooden or just down right bad. Townsend was best when she was alone playing a meek, quiet gorl who is actually longing for more and speaks to Joy on the path she would have taken but at times it felt like she had not personality at all and did not have one written for her. An example of bad acting is with the parents who just seems so stiff and no emotion even though their daughter has disappeared: normally they is some sort of reaction to a tragic event like that.
They is a nice, quiet visial to the film, it is not grand or grim and gritty. I personally like long takes, long shots for the most part. I particularly like the visuals in the woods and the park. This gave Helen a more natural feel. But at other times I felt the film needed a cut to break thinks up and see another action/reaction. Maybe it is because the camera was in the wrong place or simply the acting was not good enough, compared to a 10 minute scene in Hunger that was one take and it was really compelling because of the acting. Helen's scene just drag and the film breaks basic screen writing rules like enter late, leave early: it does the opposite.
I was also slightly confused by the setting because the police uniforms looked like they were not from the UK and the accents were all over the place, some of Liverpulian, others Irish and some just general English. The filmmakers should have stuck to a board area of the UK to show that this could happen anywhere. Also elements of the police investigation felt really fault, like getting a local girl to play Joy, wouldn't the police get an actor from outside so family and friends would not have any ties to the person or when the police find the jacket they would have to keep as evidence and keep it in the evidence bag.
There were some really good ideas in Helen but it could have been explored. It starts out well enough showing Joy with her walking with her mates in the park and when she goes off alone it is the last time never to be seen again. It would be a good start to a thriller. The story could have gone in a number of directions, like the parents trying to do what happened to their daughter or the stress seeing some random girl trying to be their daughter, maybe friends of Joy questioning why Helen is trying to be like Joy and take over her live, the parents seeing Helen and confuse her for Joy, the impact of the disappearance on the college and the community or Helen seeing she looks similar to Joy and tries to find one more about the girl and even tries to take her boyfriend. Or it simply could be a girl who lived in care tries to find out more about her own past.
Helen is interesting it does have a good idea behind it but the execution was lacking.