Echo Movie Review (New Zealand)

Above Pic: Actress Breigh Fouhy as Nicky Brick, is sexually charged and an emotional wreck in Echo.

Dan's Movie Report readers know from time to time I review short films. I try to pick the ones that have a unique artistic flair, and New Zealand's Echo is a captivating example of this characteristic. Ambiguous, enigmatic, and overtly sexual, Echo is a psychotic, socially deviant look into the mind, open to the viewer's interpretation.

Echo was filmed as part of New Zealand's 48 hour film festival http://www.v48hours.co.nz/2012/ The team's were divided and on 7pm Friday night they were given a genre, and the final project had to be turned in by 7pm Sunday. Four compulsory elements were included in the films; An unlucky character named Nicky Brick, a leaf prop, a line of dialogue "I did that", and slo-mo for a technical element. The films all had to be between one and seven minutes in length and include a thirty second into introducing the team.

Team Gullivers Strange Amphetamine opted to choose erotic thriller as their genre and in-spite of some technical problems, manage to pull off a film that shocks the senses, and warps the mind.

Echo opens with the main characters walking out in the compulsory slo-mo style and flairs out into a deep psychological trip, full of exhibitionism, thrusting the viewer headlong to a bizarre trip into a forest wrought with allegory. The plot is left to much interpretation, but follows essentially a descent into madness delving into the dark recesses of a psychotic mind.

Above Pic: Actress Breigh Fouhy as Nicky, sultry, and in the heat of passion.

Actress Breigh Fouhy portrays the lead character Echo/Nicky Brick, a woman trapped in her mind, full of pain and anguish, bearing her naked body and soul to the world. The attractive Breigh put forth extreme effort in the name of art for Echo, including wandering around in a cold forest, completely naked. The nudity in Echo is an integral part of the film, not just because of the genre, but to show the emotional trauma, bearing her soul to the world. Breigh has fantastic facial expressions, and her body moves in lithe fashion, obviously from dance experience. Very rarely in short film is an actor asked to stretch their acting chops in such a way. Hopefully, Breigh can be plucked from New Zealand if she desires, and be given a feature length film to display her raw passion and distinct talent. Breigh's agency contact info is: http://robertbruce.heroku.com/all/detail/40159

All of the actors in Echo do a solid job, and further the lead character's descent into utter madness and chaos. They torment Nicky Brick's mind and soul with their actions.  Surprising Nicky her after the sex, a museum tour group with cameras film her reaction, and cause her to scamper like a frightened child. Breigh looks scared and displays a wealth of emotions throughout Echo, see pic below:

Grae Burton and Rod Johns wrote, produced, and edited Echo, Grae directed and Rod was DOP. With all of the dissolves and quick cuts in Echo, this is quite a technological achievement that the entire project took only two days from concept to finished project. Echo was shot at the Pah Homstead and Gallery and Rannoch House. Both of these locations are owned by associate producer Sir James Wallace, they were hauntingly beautiful, and provided a fitting backdrop to Echo.

I am curious to see more work from these talented individuals, as a film I rate Echo a 7.5 out of 10. A final word of warning, this film warrents an NC-17 rating I am providing the link to watch the entire film below, Echo is for adults only.  http://www.v48hours.co.nz/screening-room/2012/auckland/echo/