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‘Magic Hour’ Review: Katie Aselton and Daveed Diggs Play a Long-Distance Relationship Going Sour in Daring Desert-Set Love Story
Daveed Diggs and Katie Aselton weigh a Joshua Tree break-up in the sometimes SXSW drama.
Using the traditional Duplass production mode that requires only the single setting of a house and cell phone videos to pull off, the film goes every which way as Erin faces a flood of conflicting emotions, caught in the push-and-pull between moving on when Charlie is still very much a part of her life. The actor also gets a few explicit opportunities to remind viewers he was a part of the original cast of “Hamilton.” “Magic Hour” sometimes recalls the more surreal Dogme 95 entries, such as “The Celebration” and “The King is Alive,” when the film embraces basic techniques to bring out the frisson within the couple. A later gift of a massage from her host succeeds in allowing Erin to remember what it’s like to be touched, but in frenzied crosscuts between her memory and the present moment, the scene seems a bit overworked, particularly in comparison to how simply and effectively Aselton can usually get a feeling across from the film’s strong performances and the expressive camerawork.
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