The Other Side of the Mirror or The Darker Side of The Mirror, i don't know, at first glance seems to just be about a bunch of cosplay dweebs putting on a show. Then, when you stick with it, you come to appreciate it as an admirable failure.
There is on display here creativity and a nuanced understanding of its period setting. However, the cinematography feels cheap, due to the lack of proper composition and the many tight frames that always give away a film's budget. I link this to the extremely negative critical response that is evident online to this film. If it had a bigger budget, I think more people would be willing to defend it. As The Other Side of The Mirror stands, it's ambition clearly doesn't match its resources and the result is something that feels very amateur, exactly because it has ambition and passion.
The Other Side of the Mirror, apart from it's frugal camerawork, has other issues going against it which is it's tonally unbalanced acting and uninspired soundtrack, further adding to the whole cheap feel of the production. Though, throughout the film are moments where the elements do actually come together and an atmosphere is obtained. As this film is obviously trying to tell it's story in that ethereal kind of way, trying to decipher when and when not this film stops being good is like performing some kind of alchemy, or like detecting radiation without a geiger counter. The film engages and disengages, arbitrarily, both due to and in spite of it's low budget.
I can't really give you a straight answer as to whether this film is good or not. It's cheap i can give you that, confusing, boring, but at other times, it's beautiful, impressive and a little magical. But, The Other Side of The Mirror is too much of a mess for me to recommend anything but a curious and cautious trial run.
There is on display here creativity and a nuanced understanding of its period setting. However, the cinematography feels cheap, due to the lack of proper composition and the many tight frames that always give away a film's budget. I link this to the extremely negative critical response that is evident online to this film. If it had a bigger budget, I think more people would be willing to defend it. As The Other Side of The Mirror stands, it's ambition clearly doesn't match its resources and the result is something that feels very amateur, exactly because it has ambition and passion.
The Other Side of the Mirror, apart from it's frugal camerawork, has other issues going against it which is it's tonally unbalanced acting and uninspired soundtrack, further adding to the whole cheap feel of the production. Though, throughout the film are moments where the elements do actually come together and an atmosphere is obtained. As this film is obviously trying to tell it's story in that ethereal kind of way, trying to decipher when and when not this film stops being good is like performing some kind of alchemy, or like detecting radiation without a geiger counter. The film engages and disengages, arbitrarily, both due to and in spite of it's low budget.
I can't really give you a straight answer as to whether this film is good or not. It's cheap i can give you that, confusing, boring, but at other times, it's beautiful, impressive and a little magical. But, The Other Side of The Mirror is too much of a mess for me to recommend anything but a curious and cautious trial run.