Backspot (2024)
Directed by D.W Waterson
Written by Joanne Sarazen, D.W Waterson
Starring Devery Jacobs, Evan Rachel Wood, Kudakwashe Rutendo, Shannyn Sossamon
Release Date May 31st, 2024
Published May 29th, 2024
If you are going to use a particular style of handheld camera work, make sure that it is being used for a good purpose. Handheld or shaky cam style is a visual tool that works when you are making a movie like The Blair Witch Project where the characters are also the camera operators, and their camera is also the eyes of the audience. The characters are active and running and the shaky cam reflects the fact they are running for their lives. Shaky cam is not recommended when you are trying to have a serious, dramatic conversation, say, between a mother and a daughter at a crossroads.
Unfortunately, there is a scene in the new cheerleading melodrama, Backspot, in which star Devery Jacobs is having a dramatic, late in the movie, conversation with her mother, played by Shannyn Sossomon. The scene isn't poorly acted, from what I could see of it. Sadly, I had to look away because co-writer and director D.W Waterson chooses to shoot the scene with a camera that will not stop shaking. The style choice undermines the drama, it loses focus on the heavy emotions at play, and it's just visually impossible to look at.
Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here.
