Random Acts of Intimacy (2002) (TV)

Director:

Clio Barnard

Writer:

Clio Barnard (writer)

Release Date:

12 December 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Short

Plot:

A group of people discuss chance encounters they have had that has led to sex with complete strangers...

Cast

Robert Beck
Sibyl Buck
Isla Fisher
Claire Gorham
Sara Stockbridge

Runtime:

15 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

FilmFour

Are all Barnard's shorts flawed in the same ways?

A group of people discuss chance encounters they have had that has led to sex with complete strangers. One girl recounts her experiences in the middle of a busy club, another being caught by the police. A lady describes a lesbian clinch in the toilets, a man recounts his 30 second affair on a train and a woman takes a coach journey.

This is the second film by Barnard I have seen (the first being Lambeth Marsh) and they both had the same potential and, unfortunately, the same basic weaknesses. The concept is good - it gives us an insight in to a world that many (some?) of us may not have experienced - that of sudden, random sex. Not one night stands but honest to God, sex with a complete stranger who then leaves. However the film fails to bring out anymore than a slightly interesting view on the whole thing and really the stories don't work. On one hand they don't provide enough interesting emotion and fail that way but then on the other hand they don't provide enough dirty detail to hold the attention that way either.

As with Lambeth Marsh, Barnard provides lots of visuals all through the film. Here it is soft cut porn that run in colour mixes in the background. These don't work either and just take away from the stories being told. The actual direction of the talking head segments is good and I liked her use of the locations their stories were based in. The actors are all pretty good. Most fit the story they are telling but I found that the young blonde girl in the club seemed far too detached from the events she was relating.

Overall this sounded far more interesting than it actually was. The direction is distracting and the stories don't provide much more in the way of information or feeling than the most basic detail. It's worth a watch once maybe but the characters needed more work and all that slow-mo porn in the background needs to go.