ONE HOUR FANTASY GIRL journeys into a different corner of the dark basement world of prostitution, the sexless realm of fantasy fulfillment. It is stunningly shot with a beautiful mélange of color that externalize the inner conflicts Brandi/Becky battles with throughout the film. It’s a raw and oftentimes sweetly disturbing picture; at one moment we witness Brandi fulfilling the overtly Freudian desires of Roger; at other times we fall at ease when she spends time with Bobby, her seeming savior. The twist in the film is unpredictable, and was probably what I enjoyed most about the film.
Although ONE HOUR FANTASY GIRL was superbly shot by cinematographer Rush Hamden, the film fell somewhat flat for me where the overlapping storylines are concerned. Some elements just didn’t add up, specifically the very loose subplot which takes place in a diner. I get what those scenes are trying to accomplish, but I don’t see how it fits seamlessly with the context of the story’s main plot. The ending, I thought, could have come much sooner than it did, and I feel that more could have been done to expound on Becky’s desire to work a job in real estate so that the ending wouldn’t have appeared so arbitrary.
I saw many similarities between ONE HOUR FANTASY GIRL and THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (and while I appreciate the premise in the former much more than in Soderbergh’s film, I did feel more empathy for Sasha Grey’s Chelsea than I did for Kelly-Ann Tursi’s Brandi), but writer/director Edgar Michael Bravo offers up an intriguing alternate take on the “dark damsel in distress” motif and gives the audience a worthwhile ride.
JOHN T. TRIGONIS 