Now in the past, Douglas Reese has time and again proven himself to be
a mighty capable amateur filmmaker, often giving mundane topics an
arthouse approach and creating memorable and compelling pieces using long,
repetitive takes and generally relying on a slow pace. That all
said, Cincinnati Storm is certainly not one of his better films,
it's more of an abstract montage of (for all I can tell) slices of life
episodes that seem rather random and at least to me there seems to be no
rhyme or reason behind their sequence, the scenes seem to be just there,
and while some have aesthetic value to them or are entertainingly cut, the
thing as a whole unfortunately does not fall into a solid whole, seems
rather inaccessible at least for those not in the know of the idea behind
the movie. And some scenes like extended blurred slow motion sequences are
actually a bit tedious. That's all not to say the film is just
a train wreck, it does show technical and aesthetic ideas aplenty, and
some compelling soundwork as well - I just can't wait until Douglas Reese
uses his talents and these interesting techniques to make a more, erm,
conventional, narrative movie once again.
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