The Maiden

Directed by Graham Foy, The Maiden follows Marcel T. Jiménez’s Colton as he attempts to cope with the sudden death of his best friend (Jackson Sluiter’s Kyle). It’s clear almost immediately that Foy is going for the feel and tone of a contemplative, Gus Van Sant-like exploration of his characters’ dismal lives, and although he does succeed to a certain extent, The Maiden’s been infused with a punishingly deliberate sensibility that effectively (and thoroughly) prevents the viewer from connecting to the almost laughably underdeveloped characters. (The death of the aforementioned friend provokes nothing more than a shrug, for example.) There’s little doubt, as a result, that the picture grows less and less interesting as it sluggishly progresses, as Foy begins emphasizing the most mundane of happenings (eg Colton eats dinner, Colton goes to school, etc) and eventually moves the narrative into a flat-out baffling second half. (Colton is hanging out with Kyle’s ghost? What?) By the time the interminable final stretch rolls around (ie the movie just refuses to end), The Maiden has undoubtedly cemented its place as an art-house experiment that might’ve worked as a short but has absolutely no business running 117 minutes.

*1/2 out of ****