For British readers aware of minor celebrities dragged through tabloid hell let’s clear up one thing first: this Paul Ross is not that Paul Ross and so you have nothing to fear. The Passion of Paul Ross is, in fact, a mysterious and sinister fantasy from writer-director Bryan Enk. It tells of the middle-aged artist Ross (Bishop) who we find struggling with a piece he is working on. As several strange people and occurrences enter his life, he starts to understand that something in is very off and that the bland suburban home he might have previously considered a sanctuary is in actual fact a prison of sorts.
To explain more would be redundant as Enk is not concerned here with a straightforward narrative or conventional notions of following a story from beginning to end. Instead, inspired by dreams and nightmares as much as he seemingly is by the work of people like David Lynch, The Passion of Paul Ross is much more of a mood piece. There’s nothing particularly shocking in the film and Enk doesn’t rely on being confrontational with imagery. Using music, sound effects, editing and the way in which Enk himself shoots the film, it’s a slowly building film that seeks to unsettle and challenge.
Whether you consider any of this good or bad or if you find Enk’s experimentation compelling or irritating is entirely subjective. It’s almost redundant to offer review for work like this. That’s not because we can’t say whether this is interesting and worth your time or not. It’s something you need to decide for yourself. What we can say is that in these times of big-budget movie multiplexes it’s worth supporting people like Enk, writing and producing work for comparably tiny budgets that is never going to make them wealthy, but is instead about the film itself as a piece of art. To some, that might seem pretentious but it’s films like this that show creativity and passion are flourishing in the no-budget end of movie making.
We appreciated and admired what The Passion of Paul Ross wants to achieve, as opposed to enjoying it or feeling compelled to return to it at any stage. However, if nothing else, we’d encourage more from Enk and be interested in what he has to come up with next. If you feel like giving something genuinely trying to take its influences and come up with something individual a go, then try this out.
THE PASSION OF PAUL ROSS / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: BRYAN ENK / STARRING: STEVE BISHOP, BECKY BYERS, MATTHEW GRETZINGER, AMY BETH COUP / RELEASE DATE: TBC
