All Is Vanity

The title should say it all as this ambitious feature film debut from writer and director Marcos Mereles twists and turns playing with the super-egos, of photographers, actors, assistants.

Hot shot photographer (Sid Phoenix) is preparing for a shoot in London with an intern (Yaseen Aroussi), make-up artist (Rosie Steel) and model (Isabelle Bonfrer).

The sparse loft space work area/studio doesn't meet the photographer’s expectations with him coming over as something of an egotistical bully rather than assertive. The various characters other than the intern know each other from past projects and have tales to tell of each other. So there's palpable tension in the room already, which is made worse when the lights are lost and they have to stay the night in the studio.

The day after they find that the make-up artist has disappeared, naturally causing problems for the shoot. The film itself then also takes a left turn adding another layer to the story, not to mention some time travel lobbed in for good measure.

What All is Vanity has going for it, is that is beautifully filmed (Though it has a very stagey look and could possibly be better suited to the theatre.) and well-acted. But it looks like a calculated mess of a film.

Whether Mereles intended this as a satire on directorial vanity projects, I'm not entirely sure. But it comes across as arch as it breaks out of its original format into a film within a film, then breaking the fourth wall while adding elements of Sci-Fi.

Whatever, the main problem is that over its 72 minute duration, interest begins to wane. The characters in general aren’t that likeable which makes staying with the film a task and possibly with not much of a reward at the end of it.

All is Vanity is in cinemas and digital from 14 October