MANIFF 2022: Poser (2021) Review

Although set in New York, the film opens on a close up of a contemporary painting that wouldn’t look out of place in any modern art gallery. As the camera moves gradually across the piece of art, we hear the voice of a critic describing his interpretation of the artist’s intent and her use of deliberately erratic lines. His commentary is an apt beginning for what transpires to be really quite a bizarre dramatic comedy, in which the distinction between the chance and intended encounters of the protagonist, Lennon (played by Sylvie Mix) become muddled amidst the sounds she records on her iPhone. 

Like much of our generation, Lennon wants to start a podcast. After saving the recording of the art gallery critic and storing it with the rest of her carefully labelled, vaguely retro, cassette collection, she zeroes in on her chosen niche: the underground music scene in New York. This leads Lennon to embark on a series of interviews with various musicians in order to capture this undiscovered sound. 

Cue a montage of interview scenes in which a selection of musicians share their art with her. However, we begin to understand how the film earned it’s title pretty early on as we see her making notes of other people’s conversation and music in her notebook which she takes everywhere with her. Lennon never seems quite as emotionally invested in the conversation as she should be, and we’re eased into this disturbing aspect of her character when she performs a song to musicians Bobbi Kitten (played by herself) and Micah (played by Abdul Seidu), written by someone else, as if it was her own. 

Lennon’s imitations really start to take shape with close up shots of her mimicking Bobbi Kittens’ makeup and performance in a mirror, copying from a video she’d recorded at one of Bobbi’s gigs. Whilst the smokey eye makeup and sexual body movements don’t necessarily suit her (a deliberate choice which works well by the film’s directors Noah Dixon and Ori Segev), it’s certainly a nice relief from the almost constant lip nibbling Lennon is doing during the rest of the film. 

Later on, she has the chance to mimic Bobbi Kitten’s movements directly in front of her, as they play an imitation game at an art exhibition. The mergence between contemporary culture and psychological disturbance is strikingly presented as the pair stand directly infront of a piece of art that is just one red line. Modern artists…what are they like! 

As the film progresses, we see Lennon’s difficult relationship with her sister, conducted mainly over glasses of wine in fancy restaurants. The siblings don’t really seem to talk to each other as much as at each other, with the odd reference to the impersonal relationship they share with their maternal figure. Lennon’s sister also provides financial stability via a cash-filled envelope to go alongside Lennon’s waitressing job. 

Ultimately, the film doesn’t really seem to have a concrete message to take away. Aesthetically, the club scenes and music venues create an almost cosy underground atmosphere which feels appreciatively immersive. The music is pretty to listen to, and the shots themselves are really well constructed, purposefully showing Lennon’s separateness from the music scene she so desperately desires to be a part of. 

However, Lennon’s purposeful quietness and one dimensionality makes her appear almost as blank as the canvases onto which is painted the various vibrant art we see throughout the film. Although this is obviously to make her a blank slate, perfect for acquiring a new personality as she tries to do, I just found myself bored of her as a person. Not great for a protagonist. 

Perhaps then one of the best things about ‘Poser’ was how they managed to fit it all into a 93 minute feature. As an almost abstract piece of cinema, it was engaging but not necessarily captivating. I imagine a similar feeling can be achieved by actually going to some underground music gigs yourself, rather than sitting in a dark cinema…although maybe that was Dixon and Segev’s intention after all.