Choir Girl – 2019

Choir girl is not an easy film to watch. First off, it’s about a very serious subject that you have to tip on your toes about. Both from the filmmakers point of view, but also from a critics point of view. Subjects regarding trafficking, prostitution and voyeurism are handled and it’s very very dark! There’s not really anyone likable in the movie but I think that’s the point. The subject of underage prostitution needs to be kept in a leech. It can never be too light, there can’t be anything mitigating circumstances, the feeling of disgust must saturate every frame of it.

It’s filmed in beautiful black and white. I’m not I understand why, but I like the touch. It takes a while to get used to it though. Maybe not the black and white itself, it’s more like the cinematography. In the beginning of the movie I wasn’t too fond of it at all, I didn’t feel there was any purpose. I felt like the camera was shaking for no reason and the angles were just strange. Maybe even the editing. Not really any flow between the shots if you know what I mean.

The story revolves around this man trying to become a photographer. Therefore he takes photos of his surroundings, in the neighborhood where he lives. They display a very sinister and ugly atmosphere. They very much describe what he sees but the editor doesn’t see it the same way. From the editors point of view it’s more like exploitation. They kind of clash and don’t understand each other.

One day he takes a photo through a window and captures a face that intrigues the magazine. But it’s still not so easy to sell it to get it published. In the meantime the photographer invests a lot of his personal life into investigating further and eventually he aims to help the girl to get free. Of course, he’s caught by the gang running the operation and one thing leads to another. He gets involved, should we say, way over his head.

But that’s not really where the main story lies. It’s admirable that he wants to heöp this girl. But he goes about it in a very strange way. And the people that he gets on board to help with the cause don’t really care.

You could argue that they are kind of the same as the pimp. They all want to exploit the situation to make money out of it, regardless of the consequences. Money, and fame. A career might be worth selling your soul for, or in this case this, the integrity of the victim. As I said there are really no empathic people involved. Some of them use the young women illegally while others use her by legal means, but she’s being used nevertheless. 

And I think that is the point of the whole movie. To make the audience think about consequence, law and justice. What lengths are we willing to go to get a buck, or that long sought after promotion?

The flow that I was having problems with to begin with has smoothed out without me even noticing. That must mean that I got into the Choir Girl after a while right? At the end it’s really disturbing and I think there was a message to be told. I would have liked the dialog to be a little louder, sometimes it was hard to hear as the music was too loud in comparison. 

There’s really no room for a happy ending for anyone. But, of course, it depends on the point of view perhaps. Sometimes people might not need to be rescued by any means necessary. The path to freedom might be too high a price to pay. Most everything that happens is very easy to understand even if it’s not explicitly shown. There is, however, one scene in the end that I just have to guess about. I think I have the picture clear, but I guess there could be other interpretations as well.

Anyway, an important film that makes the viewer feel something. Is it good? It also depends on the point of view. I wasn’t sorry I saw it, it affected me. Will I see it again? Probably not.