The Bite Magazine - Spring 2019 - Issue 24

bite red carpet BEST FEATURE FILM: “LUCID” From the moment he has to stop taking the sleeping pills and is given a notebook by Elliot to record every aspects of his lucid dreaming including smells and feelings, we are taken on a journey that challenges his ability to overcome his shyness and expressions of communication with the girl of his dreams. Whilst it is a slow paced film, there are interesting elements throughout. Laurie Calvert pulls off the awkward and shy guy perfectly, and is the type of person who has a good heart and wouldn’t hurt a fly. What amazes me in the first lucid dream he has, that takes place at the nightclub where he works, is that his manager is basically all over him, making sure he is comfortable while his colleague Francesco speaks to him in Italian when offering him a drink. It’s only when Zel says the barman’s name in full and Francesco replies, ‘Look, you can call me Frankie’ he has a déjà vu moment from his first day at work and checks wheth- er he is still in the dream or not. Then, suddenly his clothes change and he’s in a suit and tie. Zel’s fantasy is further enhanced when Jasmine performs a striptease in reverse on stage to a background of slow fusion music, starting virtually naked except for tassels on her nip- ples and wearing underwear. She then slips into a sheer baby- doll and an embroidered lingerie gown, all the time looking as if she is staring seductively at Zel who is mesmerised by her performance. It is at this point that we get a repeat of the opening scene which is further developed by a conversation between Zel and Jasmine and the continuation of the story. Whilst lucid dreaming helped him to start a conversation with Jasmine in real life, what happens when your subconscious mind confuses dreaming with reality? When everything you desire seems to be going your way but suddenly starts turning into a nightmare? And your mind confuses facts or events to the point that the woman you have been working so hard in getting to notice you thinks you’re ‘f**king crazy’ when you are adamant something happened and she says it didn’t. Then you end up wondering if you are really going crazy. But all is not lost as Zel gains a little confidence, especially when he tells Theo “f**k you” after being fired by him for be- ing as “charming as a pubic hair in a cheese sandwich”. He also gives him something to ‘munch on’ at the bar after work when he tells Theo how much of a low life he is and he will end up alone from the way he treats people; and all in a calm and levelled voice, following Theo’s criticism of the conversation that he and Kat (Sophie Kennedy Clark) who also works at the same nightclub were having about lucid dreaming. In conclusion, Zel may have lost the one thing he desired but he ended up with something he never would have expected. Billy Zane who won ‘Best Actor’ at the Gold Movie Awards gave an amazing performance as Elliot while Christian Soli- meno as Theo was so annoying and arrogant that you wanted to smash his face in at times (which is usually a good sign of acting). As mentioned earlier, Laurie Calvert was brilliant with his expressions of awkwardness that worked in the sce- narios that he was placed in. The next Gold Movie Awards will take place on 9th January 2020 at Regent Street Cinema in central London. www.goldmovieawards.com