Director: Alexander Carson

Cast: Benjamin Carson, Joe Perry, Lauren Saarimaki, Nicholas Martin, Kyle Thomas, Julia Hladkowicz, Nicola Elbro, Deragh Campbell, Kaelen Ohm, Evan Webber, Atli Bollason

Running Time: 80 minutes

Rating: TBC

O, Brazen Age manages to occupy two spaces at once. It’s both a musing on life with characters who don’t know their place in the world and it’s a narrative that presents fairly high-brow themes and thoughts in a coherent narrative. The film revolves around a group of friends, who’ve known each other since they were children, arriving at that point in life where you’re unsure of what to make of it all. Through their specific art (poetry, acting, photography etc.) they explore their feelings on the past and attempt to find a new balance.

Debuting writer/director Alexander Carson, along with the cast, explore various artistic elements. Through each character we touch upon all kinds of different tangents that vary from God to Shakespeare, though Carson is very aware to not let these musings go too far into the realm of niche, wisely pulling back and centering the dialogue upon a singular thought or feeling.

The film is broken down itself into five parts; Wonder, And When Night Darkens The Streets, Rather Like A Dream, Take It To The Limits and Forever Strangers. It’s within these structures that the film springboards off to delve into a character and their specific agenda, but remains wide enough to thread plot points, previously raised, in order to gain some development, a tactic that climaxes very well in the final symbolic 15 minutes of the film. The delivery of monologues, either on camera or in voice over, are engaging and tell stories that reveal much about the characters which is a credit to Carson’s work both on the script and then in the director’s chair.

Some may draw comparisons for O, BRAZEN AGE to the Mumblecore film movement due to its twenty-something characters coming home, looking to the past in the hope they find answers about their present. Carson brings a high level of symbolism and catharsis to his characters, no matter how off-kilter and lost they may seem, that you feel assured that once the final credits begin to roll that they’ve moved on, whether that be a good or bad thing.

O, BRAZEN AGE is an assured and confident debut feature from Alexander Carson. It exists in a realm of clear storytelling that branches out into an exploration of life.

O, BRAZEN AGE will be screening at the 5th annual No Gloss Film Festival as part of its “Films Unlike Anything You Have Ever Seen” programme – a specially curated selection of the best in underground, indie films from around the world, showcased in an industrial warehouse setting with a full festival experience of award-winning street food and craft beer. It takes place on the 22nd – 23rd October 2016 at Canal Mills, Leeds. For more information please visit the festival’s official Facebook page here.

O, BRAZEN AGE (2015) // FULL TRAILER from North Country Cinema on Vimeo.

The post #NGFF No Gloss Film Festival: O, BRAZEN AGE Review appeared first on ScreenRelish.