Onely.Org

Film Review: The Aviatrix November 20, 2008

OH no no no no no no no

I started this video with high hopes. A young woman with cancer draws herself as a body-armour-clad superhero and imagines fighting another woman in bright red body armour, who represents her cancer. Their fights, in a desert, rocky, otherworldly landscape, are interspersed with scenes from the woman’s life in her little suburban cottage. There is true-to-life tension with her mother, a true-to-life assholish doctor.

And then there’s the sensitive, funny lawn mowing guy.After she finally rides off with him for a date, we flash back to the desert landscape one last time to see her red-suited rival is gone–and her new beau, clad in body armour, takes our heroine’s superhero alterego in his arms. There is some kind of triumphant firework in the background, and then the credits roll. 

WTF? So now being coupled not only improves your general well-being, maturity, and social worth, but it can cure cancer as well?

Ok, I’ll admit maybe the lawnmower guy didn’t cure her, but instead gave her some joy that made her strong enough to fight harder and/or enjoy her last days. We don’t know this, though, because we don’t see anything after the passionate superhero kiss and the fade to black. But why not show our heroine find a source of happiness on her own? Maybe publish an illustration. Maybe buy a new bathrobe for herself (instead of sitting around in a gross faded gown until the lawnmower guy resents her with a new one). Maybe ride to the park with her stressed-out mom.  I kept expecting her to finally kick the red woman’s butt, but she never does. (Maybe that means that the red woman, the cancer, is just hiding behind a hillock waiting to spring out at her as soon as she returns from her date?)

I would have been happier if she’d at least had a final battle scene with the red woman where she trampled her, before running into the lawnmower guy’s embrace. But we don’t even get that. Instead, red woman is just replaced by lawnmower guy, without the heroine even taking a final proactive punch at the her.  Oh, gosh, I was really enjoying this film up until about thirty seconds before the ending. 

 Copious Readership, what do you think? –CC