"The Most Beautiful Thing" by Cameron Covell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP8psM4LWXk

            Cameron Covell creates character need from the first scene. Framing Brandon in the empty courtyard on the iron seats foreshadows the eventual filling of that seat, but before Emily fills the seat, it symbolizes the boy's feelings of isolation and estrangement from his peers, which the viewer can only infer either from his somewhat scrawny stature, glasses, or the scar from his cleft lip. Even where the title appears, over Emily's eventual placement, hints at what our protagonist longs for.

            I also was drawn in by Covell's attention to camera angles. The camera almost stalks Brandon's lonely monotony, his classmates blurred and shrinking in the lens' periphery. Everywhere Brandon looks in the opening shots, there are people interacting and connecting at an arms length who are seemingly oblivious to his existence.

            The prom flyer's prompt and subtle placement amplifies the character's desperation for acceptance and intimacy. The viewer, too, senses this need and wants it for the lonely protagonist.

            Brandon's innocence and awkwardness are made evident when he stumbles on the couple kissing. Even at home Brandon seems forgotten, which only adds to his already lamentable plight.

             I love the complete change in tone when Emily enters Brandon's life. Covell chose the perfect musical track as the background for the friendship montage that ensues after they meet for the first time. It creates a brilliant contrast from the somber ambient music that starts the film with its upbeat rhythm under a distorted, major chord progression.

            Every film needs a villain, and the brash young blonde who pushes himself onto Emily embodies it well. His emergence adds needed tension and struggle to the film. Love and intimacy are never achieved without struggle or sacrifice so why should this hero be any different.

            Regardless of each character's social "limitation" or "deficiency," they're able to find someone who redeems and even loves them for those things. Covell does an amazing job of expressing the inexpressible through these character's need and desperation for each other. There's something empowering in this film. Emily's willingness to make herself vulnerable in front of Brandon shows that even love can overcome our own inhibitions and social scarring.