The Serena Variations: Review

12th July 2024

The Serena Variations: Review. By Christopher Patterson.

A Display of Talent Deeply Hidden Behind It’s Wasted Runtime and Execution

I recently had the chance to see a short called The Serena Variations. It is quite an artistic short. I would compare it to the film Tár in its ambition and cinematography style.Though, not for positives. My issue with this short’s style is its lack of life. The intention behind the direction seemed to be to reflect an almost meditative and quiet atmosphere. But instead, it makes the short look dreadful. Even worse, I feel as though this short would work much better as a film; instead, thanks to how evident it is, this director’s style would much better suit the big screen.

The Serena Variations I would call a respectable short, and one that if it clicks with you, you will probably love it; that just didn’t work for me. Directing-wise, it was too pompous and overly influenced yet deeply reflected potential. Writing-wise, the script felt choppy to me and tiring. And the worst of all, pacing wise, it was as if making each minute more boring than the last was a requirement, and for a short, which usually, one could argue, should be short enough to intrigue, not bore, for most of the time it’s on screen, but The Serena Variations exceedingly fails at that.

If I had to better describe the symptoms of this short, think of an HBO drama. Okay. Now, think of one where the direction feels exactly the same as twenty-seven other shows and has this boring pompousness to it that turns you off. Yeah. That is what The Serena Variations embodies, never feeling free to itself and understanding its boundless limitations as a short, but rather feeling repulsed by itself and hiding behind veils of boring drama that are as good as background noise when one is cleaning their house, but even that might greatly annoy someone.

Or, if I had to be more direct, it would be a college student’s short film who has a great camera and understands how to direct a scene. Essentially, a very full of itself short that, while basking in potential for greater possibilities, provides nothing but a dull and trying to be witty experience that agonizes the mind. It is a fear, in my opinion, to really do something that becomes apparent and a jump into artsy that feels made with the influence of ten boring art films and has no true detailed understanding as to why they exceeded and guesses thanks to it feeling artistic rather than actually just doing anything.

To me, the worst feats of art are the ones attempted out of ambition to be artsy rather than just doing something. The reason The Serena Variations hurts to watch is not for its dull and overly influenced narrative, but because behind it all there is true brilliance that is masked behind pretentious gimmicks. I would find a short in which we see a family go to celebrate a son’s birthday, and it is not some deep representation of problems that occur in a family but rather just a celebration that enforces the beauty of getting up every day, a possible interesting premise, and one much more than The Serena Variations.

Get where I’m getting at. You don’t have to try and spectacularly fail to deliver a tirelessly emotional picture; rather, just be yourself and not care what others think. Instead, The Serena Variations feels heightened by the prospect of discussion rather than the convenience to a viewer, and the short itself is boring, slop, and nothing more. If you want a short that feels as though it tries to make you feel smart by watching but rather just bores you the entire time, this is it. It would be something someone would cut on to impress someone who calls themselves a quote on quote artist but is rather someone who saw their first art film for the first time and doesn’t have the slightest idea of what art is.

The performances are solid, with them generally being performances built on the little moments you notice that show their range. But, overall, I can’t help but be bored by it all. While great, the performances are hindered by a pretentious script that does them, clearly, no favors.

Aside from that, there isn’t much else to The Serena Variations. It is a very uninteresting short film, plain and simple, since it feels stuck up, takes too long for what it accomplishes, boring for even a short, and downright sad to see. While a vision is here that may have lingered too long on the possible brilliance of its premise to have accomplished anything as such, it is the vision nonetheless that has me to believe this director will do something great. That great thing, though, is certainly not right now with regards to this short.

VERDICT

The Serena Variations felt like a short that attempted too much and never just tried to make a story that would work much better as a short. As this is a display of talent, our director Warren Fischer really delivers in the use of possibility rather than ability to make anything watchable. Though, whoever made the shots and chose the lighting in this short truly has a road ahead of them even if I personally despise the baldness I felt from it. Aside from that, I would call The Serena Variations a boring mess that may only help put some future talent on your radar.

2/5

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