A psychological art film created by Kyle Broom delves into the world of pompous fame chasers. Broom plays on the stereotypes of arty socialites who become so consumed with their own egos and work. It’s an interesting allegory for self-obsession and the consequences of this. Whilst making a film about art, it seems as though the director is attempting to produce a work of art himself. Does he succeed? It kind of depends on what his true intentions were, Tabloid Vivant has a strange and surreal plot, with scenes that are very much out of place in style and story. It’s very much an art house film in which pretty much anything goes, and we can all look at this with a different perspective.
It’s a strange concept of two unlikely lovers using and abusing one another as they attempt to gain recognition for their united but individual pieces of work. One a writer, the other a technical artist isolate themselves in their friend’s cabin in the woods. They soon begin to lose control of their work and behaviour as they live off a dangerous diet of alcohol, sex, and paint fumes. Broom has a very interesting style of mixing realism with absurdity, he uses a lot of archive footage to give visual nuggets during scenes of lengthy dialogue and exposition, an attempt to distract us from the mundane.
Although the lush cinematography and cool soundtrack give the film a pleasant aesthetic that allows you to revel in its warped surroundings, it is empty of enough story and substance to save the film from its lackadaisical tendencies. It seems as though it would have been best played as a short form film rather than a feature. It isn’t long but feels very long-drawn when really we want to get to the nitty and gritty of these two unpleasant characters and see them at their worst.
The final act is when it finally gets interesting, the couple have become so consumed by this new revolution of art that they have forgotten how to live in the real world, they become violent and grotesque. Their attempt to save the painting from prying eyes leads to rather unfortunate circumstances. If you can get over the pretentious and stuffy first half of the film, you will be rewarded with a somewhat unique experience in the wacky and deranged department.
TABLOID VIVANT / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: KYLE BROOM / STARRING: JESSE WOODROW, TAMZIN BROWN, CHRISTOPHER CARLISLE, AMBER FRIENDLY / RELEASE DATE: TBC
