Written and directed by Dave Ash, a workaholic TV news producer finds out he is dying and dedicates his remaining days to making a movie about the meaning of life for his estranged wife and their soon-to-be-born son. Starring: Matt Bailey, Stephanie Bright, Bethany Ford, Ryan J. Gilmer, Juan Rivera Lebron, Alissa Malmberg, Christine Weber, Clarence Wethern and Katie Willer.
Upon opening Incompleteness throws you in at the deep end, giving a frantic and intense introduction before leading you into its real story. One that has a lot of different moving parts, and at times, can have one too many. The foundation of its story is a good one, to explore the idea of love and mortality, and how can we make an impression on those who may never even get the chance to know us. However, when we’re being introduced to so many characters, who each have their own set of complicated problems, it’s tricky to take everything in properly.
Part of that problem can be how it moves, the transitions between its ensemble of characters can be rocky and it can feel as though it’s jumping from place to place. It needed a smoother, more natural flow to let it bring all of them together in a satisfying way. The direction can also be rather simple but it does work and you can understand how it’s trying to focus on the dramatic elements of Incompleteness.
With the performances, some are more successful than others at bringing out the emotional side but none of them fall short. Matt Bailey’s Alex can go a little manic and lose his sympathetic edge but Bethany Ford brings a more grounded feel which balances that out. Clarence Wethern and Katie Willer also make for a great pairing, they bring out a bigger sense of intrigue and spontaneity. While Juan Rivera Lebron and Christine Weber can hit closer to traditional rom-com territory which feels a bit overly familiar.
Incompleteness perhaps comes on a little too strong but has an interesting concept. It tries to explore relationships in an untraditional way which a varying level of success. Delving into multiple different stories of love, all in very different points of time and it doesn’t always manage to connect them all together strongly enough but they each have something to add. There are some solid elements at work but it’s missing a natural, smooth flow to let it confidently weave together each moving part.
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