ReelBob: ‘Finding Ophelia’ ★½

By Bob Bloom

I never believed that a 73-minute movie could feel like hours — but then I watched “Finding Ophelia.”

It’s a movie whose camera trickery and sound design try to trump a very abstract story.

We are as confused as Will Edgar (Jimmy Levar), whose continual dreams about a mysterious woman dominate his life causing him to tune out people and, at times, fail to differentiate between reality and nightmare.

This would actually make for an interesting movie if writer-director-cinematographer-film editor Stephen Rutherford was more interested in telling his story that displaying his visual and auditory mastery.

As impressed as I was with Rutherford’ style, it created a sensory overload that took me out of the story and Will’s search for his mystery love.

Rutherford’s attempts to present “Finding Ophelia” as an art film only impressed me as unbearably ostentatious and dull. The deeper into the movie I went, the more I glanced at my watch.

Sometimes, a movie has to breathe — and also allow the audience to do the same.

But Rutherford offers no respite, piling up bizarre sequences one on top of the other — people crawling on the sidewalk like caterpillars, a pig that “talks” to Will, symbols whose meanings are never explained and a poem, “Dream Within a Dream,” by Poe that, I guess, is supposed to explain everything, but only further muddles the movie.

At least the film’s water motif, which features a lovely Christina Chu, in various costumes, floating, swimming or wading, is made clear by the last reel.

The film’s finale is unclear. It hints at supernatural overtones, yet you even call that into question.

“Finding Ophelia” is a hollow, artsy-fartsy misfire, a movie with an interesting premise that is drowned in a pond of pretentiousness.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

FINDING OPHELIA
1½ stars out of 4
Not rated, disturbing images