Raindance Film Festival: Love Possibly

Love Possibly
Directed by Michael Boccalini and Che Grant
Starring Steve Hodgetts, Anna Danshina, Dean Kilbey, Julie Nesher and Michelle Thomas

by Alex Plant

On paper, Love Possibly sounds great; a mockumentary following a hapless, rom-com-obsessed sap’s quest to find love that results in him ordering a Moldovan bride online. Unfortunately, the execution is sloppy and amateurish and there’s a palpable sense that the filmmakers bit off more than they could chew when they decided to go for a largely improvised comedy style.

It’s frustrating, really, because it starts off great, with a set-up that feels like Channel 4’s The Undateables mixed with a Richard Curtis movie. But there are holes from the very beginning. From a title card that tells us that main character Alex (Hodgetts) suffers from social anxiety, which never really seems to come up again, to the baffling choice to have Alex’s mother played by an actress that doesn’t seem old enough to have a son in his thirties. Then there’s the matter of the language barrier between the two main characters, which at some point they seem to get over and start understanding each other without the aid of a translator, despite the fact that neither of them seem to have picked up any words or phrases in the other’s tongue. There are just too many moments and scenes that feel pointless, aimless, or, worst of all, just don’t make sense. It’s a definite problem when one character calls another character by the wrong name and you’re not sure if it’s a joke or actual mistake that made it into the film. It is a genuine shame, because Love Possibly feels like a missed opportunity to be a great short film, or even an episodic series. The two leads give excellent performances and even manage to shine against some of the more forced humour. Steve Hodgetts in particular is fantastic, and Love Possibly’s saving grace is that it works as a vehicle for his obvious comedic talent and natural charisma.

The sudden appearance of non-actor talking heads at the film’s close is a bizarre choice, as is an admittedly quite funny outtake that plays over the end credits. The inclusion of these two moments actually takes away agency the film had as a effective mockumentary and undoes some of the hard work done by the cast to create a sense of realism amidst some of the more ridiculous moments. Finishing on a chuckle shouldn’t come at such a cost. Though there are definitely a few decent laughs, mostly thanks to the capable cast, you’re ultimately likely to leave Love Possibly thinking about what it could have been, rather than what it was.