My Marina

My Marina (Trailer) from Anjeli Jana on Vimeo.

directed by:
Anjeli Jana
written by:
Anjeli Jana
genre:
Short

"My Marina" from writer, director Anjeli Jana is a tough bird to label. Clocking in at under the two-minute mark, this short film is almost the length of a long-ish television commercial or decent trailer. Speaking of commercials, that may be one of the issues I had with this short movie. It feels like it could actually be a commercial, an advertisement. Even the narration could be considered a play on words to sell a boat. It was, and is, very tough for me to consider this as a film. It sort of has a start, middle, and ending - but at the same time, no problem is presented and no ending is cemented.
With that said, I did understand what Anjeli was trying to accomplish. I did understand her using the location as a character. It's also hard to ignore that sense of wonder, for lack of a better word, that I had while watching this short film. One side of my brain is telling me that this is great; I totally get it! Yet the other side keeps asking me where the movie is, or when the graphics will appear offering a bargain price on something. A yacht or maybe some space to rent for your boat, in this beautiful marina. I can't stress enough that I know that's not what this film is about, but still can't get it out of my head.

As for the production elements, they're mostly decent enough - although they rely heavily on the location to offset a shaky camera. Jana's narration itself also felt a little broken at times, and even a little muddled here and there. Phrases such as, "But I'll be 100% honest though," just didn't sound right to my ear. Maybe if the "But" was removed... but it wasn't. All of this is backed by an original tune in the background that sounded great, adding a little edge or flare to the film. But all of the above is cosmetic. The truth is that this just didn't feel like a film to me.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you consider a video and what you consider a film. Is "My Marina" watchable? Of course it is! It's not bad at all. The problem for me was that it's not quite an advertisement, it's not quite a film. There was no real character to root for, and no real plot. However, with such a short length there's no reason you couldn't stop in to enjoy the view.