Vinyan
Having seen Vinyan getting rave reviews and full page spreads in Fangoria, I was quite eager to see it. It has even been billed as being the first of a new wave in ‘extreme cinema’.
A couple who lost their kid in a Tsunami think they see him in a video showing orphaned kids in Burma. The wife goes loopy and demands they travel to Burma looking for their son, this they do, spending a fortune on ‘guides’ who continually rip them off asking for more money.
What happens next? I’ve no idea. It took the film makers approximately 45mins to tell me, visually, what I’ve told you in two sentences. Thus, I gave up after the half way mark.
I could see the point of the initial 15-20mins where the couple see the video and she starts planning a vacation to hell on earth Burma, but was it really necessary to spend another 20mins seeing the couple going from place to place getting ripped off? Not in my opinion. The actors did a good job, solid acting, but the pacing is God awful.
I have a self made rule it’s called ‘the 30 minute rule’. That’s how long a film has to impress me. If, after about 25mins it shows promise, I’ll give it to the 40min mark. I broke my own rules to give Vinyan a chance, I should have killed it at the 30min mark. In my opinion Vinyan is the first in a new wave of extreme boredom cinema.
You know the old saying: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And Vinyan is no exception.
Midnight Showing 