You’ve got to hand it to the people who directed “When I’m a Moth.” These people have balls. Huge balls. They have wrought a film that, so far at 56 minutes (I have paused to relieve the pain, but will continue presently) is one long, steady, navel -gaze. I just checked my own bellybutton for lint, just as a reflex.
Okay, I’m back.
Directors Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak have one thing going for them as any curious viewer will note, they have made a film about a character who may be Hillary Rodham not yet Clinton) who briefly worked in Alaska at a fish processing plant during the summer of 1969, right after her graduation from Wellesley College and before starting law school.
See? That’s a compelling tease, so they’ve got that going for them, though a too-cute disclaimer at the beginning serves as a warning not to take anything as necessarily factual.
So, Hillary is gutting fish on a conveyer belt by day, and she walks past two Japanese migrant fishermen on the way home each day, no one greeting the other. One day she stops to introduce herself and eventually ends up sleeping with one of them, Ryohei (TJ Kayama).
Most of the film is Hillary talking, and talking some more. Occasionally Ryohei, who is obviously very smart too, engages and contributes, but it’s mostly just those two and lots of talking. She is proudly ambitious and sees her future as a politician as predestined. As such, she is already thinking ahead of how religious, how charitable, how (fill in the blank) she should be for her future career. Some of those references are mildly amusing.
But for all the relentless self-examination of the character, one doesn’t come away knowing that character any better – instead, we simply overlay our current knowledge of HRC onto this 21 year old young woman.
The photography of the slate gray skies and charcoal-colored water of Valdez is pretty. The score – spare cellos, almost feel like a parody of art house fare. I’m Thinking of Ending Things, another weird and artsy film with lots of talking was a great example of how those elements can come together to make an amazing film.
Me? I always say I can forgive just about anything except a film that is boring. I really do root for films to be good. This one is worse than boring – it’s also full of itself.
1 out of 4 Stars| Now streaming On Demand | Reviewed by Kyle Osborne
Note: In real life, HRC did go to Alaska and did, apparently, work as a fish monger. But, there are contradictions and she has mentioned it without providing many details. This great article from the Anchorage Daily News was way more entertaining and interesting than the film and is worth read.