Bella Vista (2014) Reviews

• Tedious Collage of Unconnected Scenes

  pegasus32017-03-25

  Mostly a tedious collage of unconnected day to day life scenes in Missoula, Montana, ostensibly centered around a lonely teacher Doris who seems unable to relate to much of anything whether it be other people or her immediate surroundings. While the viewer may be led to suppose the film will offer some degree of plot denouement, the scenario abruptly drops Doris at the end and the viewer is left simply with a couple of scenes involving one of her Japanese students, Yuri. A bizarre ending that is as disjointed as everything that preceded. Perhaps that disjunctive quality is exactly what Ms. Brunner-Sang intended. The only saving grace in the film are occasional stunning photographs of the Montana landscape, both rural and urban. I had expected something far more interesting that this amateurish, minimalist effort.