'Some Velvet Morning' Tribeca Film Festival Movie Review: Strong Performances Highlight Otherwise Tedious, Frustrating Affair

The "one-room drama" is a phrase often used for a growing brand of film set in one location for its entire duration. The idea has become increasingly popular on the indie film scene as a means of reducing costs but one must not forget its roots several years ago. One famous example of the "one-room drama" back in classic Hollywood was the film "Rope" by legendary auteur Alfred Hitchcock. "Dinner with Andre" is another famous example, despite coming decades after "Rope." The advantage that the "genre" offers is that it physically and emotionally corners its characters and their truths slowly seep through as the film reaches its climax.

Neil LaBute's latest film "Some Velvet Morning" strips down to the bare essentials in what amounts to the aforementioned style of filmmaking. Velvet (Alice Eve) is listening to music one morning when she hears a knock on the door. Waiting outside is Fred (Stanley Tucci), an old fling that has come back into her life. The following 80 minutes portray the two characters playing a subtle game of cat and mouse with their respective feelings. The longer the film goes, the deeper their conflict and the more revelations about their past are uncovered.

In order for a conversation piece like this one to work, the performers must be at the top of their game. There is no doubt that Eve and Tucci deliver in every possible way. The performances seem improvised, but there is a great deal of tact between the two characters as they play their intricate game of chess. Both maintain strong fronts early on but their respective control over their emotions erodes as they delve deeper and deeper into their relationship. By the end, Eve taps into Velvet's frailty of being a prostitute while Tucci's Fred becomes increasingly volatile and aggressive.

Unfortunately the film falls into the trap of its genre's making. Because it takes place in an enclosed area and relies on dialogue to develop, the dynamism is not always present. The conversational tone surely creates breathtaking sense of reality, but it also emphasizes the monotony of real life. The characters weave in and around the same subjects and eventually find themselves talking about something they already exhausted 20 minutes ago. At one point Fred even says "I feel like we're going around in circles." And therein lays the problem with "Some Velvet Morning." Velvet keeps trying to leave and Fred stops her. They talk for a bit until the conversation comes to an end. Velvet takes advantage of the awkward silence and gets ready to go when suddenly Fred finds another reason to stop her. Then they engage in more conversation on their past. One senses where this film is going and it eventually gets there but the payoff feels empty because of all the waiting that the viewer must endure. More interestingly, despite an hour long conversation, the tension still feels like it has a long way to go before it climaxes; the arrival of the anticipated apex actually feels sudden and awkward in its context. LaBute seems to understand that the climax is underwhelming and decides to throw in another twist to confuse the viewer's perception; however this may be the most cruel of fates for the film as it leaves one questioning what the whole point of work was. Why subject the viewer to such a languid and trying conversation only to pull off such a rotten trick that renders its aforementioned material almost useless? This is not a suggestion that LaBute has no aim or goal in sight. He clearly wants to play with reflexivity in this film and does, but he does so at the viewer's expense.

It is impossible not to praise the ambition and execution of the project, but it is hard to truly embrace the finished product when one feels cheated after wading through it. There is no rule or expectation that the viewer must be rewarded at the end of a film, but there is certainly a tremendous sense of frustration when he/she leaves the theater feeling that a perfectly good hour and a half has been misused on a director's cruel joke.