I watched Modern Love Is Automatic this afternoon. If this weren't a microbudget feature, I can't see it getting made. Kudos to the director for making it, but he seemed to throw all the rules of story structure out for no reason. The protagonist was obnoxiously mute and withdrawn. The framework of the interview felt shoehorned in and there didn't seem to be a reason for it. We're giving very little motivation for the protagonist's actions. She changes, falls deep into this lifestyle, and then snaps out of it after getting attacked and then learning that her attacker has died in a deus ex machina of a car accident. Her roommate undergoes a similar arc, modeling and then stumbling into a sleazy gonzo porn shoot before squirming her way out. I think the concept was somewhat interesting but the execution was lacking, which is frustrating for a director with so much talent. That I'm writing about this at all shows I'm not indifferent, and it's not bad by any means. The script just needed much better writing. A few more polishes would've done it wonders.
