Using meta-mind-bending maneuvers to confront open wounds and find closure, with My First Film, director Zia Anger revisits her experience making her feature debut.  While this latest project may have personally assisted Anger, it’s not as graceful for audiences who are along for the ride.

Odessa Young (Assassination Nation, Mothering Sunday) acts as an avatar for Anger.  As ambitious filmmaker Vita, Young accurately showcases the excitement and nervousness behind championing a personal project with a ragtag film crew of friends and other eager filmmakers.  However Vita, inspired by the artistic efforts of her mother, struggles with the possibilities of being conveyed as a fraud.  She has a vision for her semi-autobiographical indie, but her ideas are sometimes too abstract to communicate.  Despite earning the trust of her lead actor Dina (Devon Ross of HBO’s Irma Vep) as well as her crew, missteps during production causes this creative support to wane.

A comparative example of what My First Film wants to emulate would be Netflix’s Emmy award-winning limited series Baby Reindeer.  The show is based on true events about a struggling comedian – Baby Reindeer’s co-creator and star Richard Gadd – who was targeted by an obsessive stalker.  The show, which was adapted from Gadd’s stage play of the same name, is an exercise in self-reflection and a masterful example of how art can be used to find inner growth.

My First Film may have hit the same heights as Baby Reindeer if Zia Anger had removed herself a little bit further from the final presentation.  By having Anger direct My First Film, audiences receive a project that’s too distracted by its own cleverness.  The performances and the atmospheric vibes of My First Film feel so real, it feels as if we’re watching a documentary.  But when Anger sheds more layers off of her movie, the film also loses degrees of its authenticity.  When some of these directorial decisions are made for stylistic purposes, Anger doubles down on these imperfections.

I can only recommend My First Film to film students and graduates as well as seasoned DIY filmmakers who share the same experiences as Zia Anger.  Pre-existing interest is crucial towards the watchability of this otherwise well-meaning experiment.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie