As far as filmmakers go, Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy . the pair behind creative partnership Desperate Optimists ..are somewhat unusual. Meeting as neighbours decades ago, the Irish pair have survived a happy 25-year marriage (while working together) and managed to carve out a career from theatre, music and film. And, they.ve done it all outside of cinema society with their own distinctive style. .It is kind of a very odd hybrid . so no film financing . its focus is on a moving images project," Lawlor tells If Magazine. .So we keep well away from the film world proper ..aside from when we screen it." Using this model they.ve produced Helen (shown at the Sydney Film Festival in 2008), short film Joy...
- 8/29/2011
- by Ruby Lennon
- IF.com.au
Joy is a popular college-age girl with a handsome boyfriend, loving parents, and many friends and band-mates. Helen’s the same age but an awkward, unsmiling outcast who’s grown up in an orphanage. Joy vanishes in a park one day, presumably the victim of foul play, and Helen is chosen to play Joy in a video reenactment the police are making in hopes of solving the case. Joy’s fate is replaced by the reality of Helen’s life and that is the premise of the new Irish film Helen, an interesting variation on the idea of duality that is hampered by a deliberately slow pace, wooden performances, and vague storytelling.
Helen (Annie Townsend) finds Joy’s life much more interesting than her own and takes to wearing Joy’s yellow coat, flirting with her boyfriend (Danny Groenland) and even accepting help with her studies from Joy’s parents...
Helen (Annie Townsend) finds Joy’s life much more interesting than her own and takes to wearing Joy’s yellow coat, flirting with her boyfriend (Danny Groenland) and even accepting help with her studies from Joy’s parents...
- 11/15/2009
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Year: 2009
Directors: Joe Lawlor / Christine Molloy
Writers: Christine Molloy / Joe Lawlor
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Ben Austwick
Rating: 6 out of 10
Helen is a British independent film with an understated feel reminiscent of contemporaries such as Better Things. Shot beautifully in a slow-burning style, it tackles serious subject matter in a social realist yet ambiguous way. Ambitious in scope and original in its pacing and storytelling, Helen, unfortunately, still falls victim of its own eagerness and comes in a little short of being the film it wants to be.
The film starts by slowly setting up the story of a young girl, Joy, who has gone missing while walking through a city park. The police want to make a reconstruction of her journey in the hope of jogging members of the public’s memories. They recruit Helen, a girl from the same college Joy attended, as a suitable stand-in; but Helen is troubled,...
Directors: Joe Lawlor / Christine Molloy
Writers: Christine Molloy / Joe Lawlor
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Ben Austwick
Rating: 6 out of 10
Helen is a British independent film with an understated feel reminiscent of contemporaries such as Better Things. Shot beautifully in a slow-burning style, it tackles serious subject matter in a social realist yet ambiguous way. Ambitious in scope and original in its pacing and storytelling, Helen, unfortunately, still falls victim of its own eagerness and comes in a little short of being the film it wants to be.
The film starts by slowly setting up the story of a young girl, Joy, who has gone missing while walking through a city park. The police want to make a reconstruction of her journey in the hope of jogging members of the public’s memories. They recruit Helen, a girl from the same college Joy attended, as a suitable stand-in; but Helen is troubled,...
- 8/21/2009
- QuietEarth.us
After a year on the festival circuit with only a couple of short clips, Christine Molloy's and Joe Lawlor's Helen finally has a proper trailer and an impending September 7th DVD release in the UK. Reportedly slow paced, hypnotic, and leaning towards arthouse cinema, I've been waiting to see this film for some time now.
An 18 year old girl called Joy has gone missing. Another girl called Helen is a few weeks away from leaving her care home. Helen is asked to ‘play’ Joy in a police reconstruction that will retrace Joy’s last known movements. Joy had everything. A loving family, a boyfriend, a bright future. Helen, parentless, has lived in institutions all her life and has never been close to anyone. Gradually Helen begins to immerse herself into the role, visiting the people and places that Joy knew; quietly and carefully insinuating her way into the lost girl’s life.
An 18 year old girl called Joy has gone missing. Another girl called Helen is a few weeks away from leaving her care home. Helen is asked to ‘play’ Joy in a police reconstruction that will retrace Joy’s last known movements. Joy had everything. A loving family, a boyfriend, a bright future. Helen, parentless, has lived in institutions all her life and has never been close to anyone. Gradually Helen begins to immerse herself into the role, visiting the people and places that Joy knew; quietly and carefully insinuating her way into the lost girl’s life.
- 6/25/2009
- QuietEarth.us
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