This was an interesting concept, but it fell short in execution. One annoying thing that movies that try too hard to be clever often do is have a lot of dialog that intentionally avoid revealing certain bits of information. All of the characters know what is going on, but the viewer is left without that benefit. It can work, occasionally, but for The Tangle, they drag it out and abuse the viewer as a result.
Overall this felt more like a stage play than a movie. Partially driven by the single set (well, 90% of the movie is a single set, and the scenes that are elsewhere, don't actually contribute a lot to the story). The other thing that made it feel like a stage play was the overdone costuming and makeup. There is nothing wrong with style, but it felt driven by pretentiousness rather than innate style. Finally the acting was exaggerated, with the dialog's rhythm feeling stilted and contrived, and not natural.
It is an interesting underlying idea, but I think the execution was about being stylistic and clever rather than actually exploring the idea.
Overall this felt more like a stage play than a movie. Partially driven by the single set (well, 90% of the movie is a single set, and the scenes that are elsewhere, don't actually contribute a lot to the story). The other thing that made it feel like a stage play was the overdone costuming and makeup. There is nothing wrong with style, but it felt driven by pretentiousness rather than innate style. Finally the acting was exaggerated, with the dialog's rhythm feeling stilted and contrived, and not natural.
It is an interesting underlying idea, but I think the execution was about being stylistic and clever rather than actually exploring the idea.