Brooklynn Prince is a genuine powerhouse of talent and personality. For her directorial debut in Colours (2019), a short film uploaded to and available to view on Facebook, which she writes, directs, and stars in, is an all-around delight and is quite impressively assembled.
The plot for Colours is sweet yet straightforward: a young girl named Natalie (Prince) tries to help her best friend Sarah (played by Fleur Lilly Delahunty), the latter of whom has suddenly been taken ill and is in the emergency room. With her parents' and friends' help, Natalie does everything she can to see Sarah again and cheer her up.
All the performances are rock-solid, with Prince providing much of the film's emotional anchor. The dialogue and their deliveries come across as surprisingly earnest yet natural, which is a testament to the young director having a hand with the screenplay. As the title implies, the film's color palette is incredibly well-utilized for each scenes' moods and atmospheres. Even during a more serious setting, the overall picture remains appealing to the eye. As a director, Prince has a natural's attention to visual, thematic, and emotional detail, coupled with a well-equipped knowledge of filming techniques while adapting to the smartphone era of visual entertainment.
The film's unique choice to use an aspect ratio of 9:16 as opposed to the conventional 16:9 takes a long-held tradition and flips it, metaphorically and literally. This filming approach is a welcome addition to the world of cinematography and shooting methods, which has now broadened to include viewing content from the phones in our hands and pockets. This kind of enthusiasm and sense of innovation feels reminiscent of the early cinema pioneers in the 1890s when films were short in length and accessible to everyday people through devices known as kinetoscopes.
While the storyline is relatively simplistic, there was enough heart and emotional depth to make this viewing experience memorable. Please keep a lookout for this kid because I see real potential.
Final Score: 7 out of 10
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