Mixed Messages isn’t technically a movie. It’s a series of web shorts that was later cut together as a feature. What’s unfortunate for Mixed Messages is that a year after its release, a much better version of it came into existence. Anne+ began its life as a web series in 2018. Like Mixed Messages, Anne+ also follows dating misadventures within a very diverse and accepting queer European community. Mixed Messages gets points for being the earlier version. But it’s also vastly inferior, at least partially because it wasn’t initially meant to be a movie.
Mixed Messages focuses on Ren, an English lesbian living in Berlin. Ren is very involved in Berlin’s queer community. She goes to many events and scores many dates. Each segment focuses on some sort of missed communication or “mixed message” that Ren encounters. Mostly, these involve romantic dates going awry. Some of the shorts also focus on the larger queer community and some of the standard people or events that go along with that community.
Because of its initial episodic structure, Mixed Messages makes for a terribly paced film. This is really ten distinct episodes played one after another. The episodes don’t seem to be entirely linear and there’s basically no ongoing plot. It makes for tedious viewing as there are no plot points or story structure to follow. Even on a macro level, the individual shorts are still tedious. The standard beginning-middle-end structure is taken as more of a suggestion. Most of the shorts feature too much set up, a conflict introduced way too quickly and minimal resolution. Most shorts end with Ren or the other party just exiting the situation. It doesn’t exactly make for thrilling viewing.
The impetuous of Mixed Messages seems to that this story was created because the creator never saw themself onscreen. So, Mixed Messages is a chance to rectify this. The problem here is that the film is so centred on Ren that the only thing it’s really representing is her experience specifically. Ren and I have a lot of traits in common. But I don’t feel represented by her or Mixed Messages. I also don’t want to be. Ren and the other cast members are priamrily queer hipsters. But for people like me who might identify with such a label, the representation is too lame. Mixed Messages’ queer hipsters are not cool, funny or even particularly interesting.
This is problem with the film. Ren is the focus character, yet I didn’t enjoy spending time with her. In the series of shorts Ren is almost always the victim of some sort of disappointment or miscommunication. After ten episodes of this, you’ve gotta think maybe the problem is Ren. Sometimes, there seems to be a suggestion that the problem is with the queer community overall. But a lot of Ren’s issues with the scene are her own issues projected. If everyone around you sucks, maybe you’re just bad at picking people. In one episode, Ren goes to a bondage workshop with a date. She doesn’t like it and seems lightly judgmental of it all. But this is definitely a her problem. If you’re not into bondage, maybe suggest something else as a first date. Or sure, go and then just feel put upon when you have a bad time.
On the plus side, Ren’s friends and romantic partners make of a visually diverse group. Ren doesn’t seem to discriminate. She dates femmes, butches, thicc queens and non-binary people. The amount of diversity easily woven into this character’s life is more or less a good thing. Like much in the movie, it is let down just because this isn’t a good movie. For as diverse as Ren’s acquaintances are, they all have one thing in common. Every character other than Ren in Mixed Messages has big NPC energy. Visually, they’re diverse. On a personality level, they’re all deeply shallow, forgettable and really just objects in Ren’s story.
Rounding out the failures in story, Mixed Messages isn’t technically proficient. This is clearly a low budget production. As you would imagine, you can see that in various ways. The editing is poor, the sound is poor, the acting is uneven. But Mixed Messages also features some uniquely poor camera angles. It doesn’t cost anything extra to have the person who is speaking have their face visible onscreen. Much of technical elements here feel not just cheap, but amateur.
Despite its attempts at being a major show of representation, Mixed Messages left me deeply unmoved. I want to celebrate what this movie stands for but its execution was really poor. This was a truly tedious 75 minutes to sit through. I didn’t enjoy Mixed Messages’ main character and despite my own presence in the queer community, I didn’t see myself onscreen. I just saw a bunch of deeply flat and obnoxious characters I didn’t want to spend any time with.
Overall rating: 1.9/10
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