Jacob Morrison and Cooper Vacheron’s Disorder is a short film that’s both compelling and provocative. Based upon the poem “OCD” by Neil Hilborn, the movie has the fluidity and strength of the ocean after a great storm has ravaged but not destroyed its accepting lull.
Told entirely from the point of view of presumed college student Jordan (John Taylor), the cinematic tale concerns his all too swift love affair with Vanessa (Dana Stern). Jordan relays the details of the romantic interlude to an unseen therapist, whose responses are never heard.
Disorder’s magnitude lies in its ability to hypnotize its viewers, incorporate them into the details of the story, and then propel them inward, for answers to questions raised by the film’s action and silence.
Strategically, there is no true dialogue in Disorder, only a lengthy monologue set to intermittent scoring and video imagery of the couple throughout the short term of their liaison. At varying moments, Jordan’s words repeat, like a recording that gets stuck midway, and eventually corrects itself. However, in Morrison and Vacheron’s movie, these restatements and echoes are never annoying, because they allow for our transport into Jordan’s unique thoughts and obsessions.
In the end, we are forced to ask ourselves if love truly is as beautiful and normal as we think, or if it’s instead a vile disease to be cured.
Kudos to Jacob Morrison and Cooper Vacheron for their beautifully conceived gem of a film; it’s only flaw is that it’s far too short. I greatly look forward to their next project.
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Wow, what a great little film. There is no pain so exquisite as heartbreak.