CINEPHILIA Review

Release Date: TBD
Director: Leah Chen Baker
MPAA Rating: NR
Film Pulse Score: 6/10

Leah Chen Baker’s ode to cinema plays like the preshow entertainment of yesteryear.   Nowadays we are accustomed to commercials playing before the coming attractions that precede the feature presentation.  Back then the preshow entertainment was made up of short films, newsreels and trailers.   Cinephilia is comprised of four shorts, and a nostalgic Intermission trailer, and looks at romance through the eyes of cinema.

The Lovers opens the film and it captures the look and feel of the classic shorts that played at the local Nickelodeon.   On the Way is a silent film full of physical comedy and pantomime.   Until Tonight is a moody film noir.  Finally, The Morning After concludes the film with an homage to the likes of Godard or Fellini. 

Zachary Le Vey and Jenny Joslin play the male and female leads throughout the feature.  They perform quite well as the film transitions from one genre to the next.  They are particular at their best in the film noir piece Until Tonight.

Written and directed by Baker Cinephilia looks at “boy meets girl” as seen through the camera lens from different eras of filmmaking.  The unifying romantic thread plays out differently according to the parameters of the era; from innocent to sweet, seductive to pretentious, it is whatever the genre dictates it to be.   This is an entertaining little film that condenses four eras of filmmaking into one twenty picture package that is worth checking out.