Writing Kim

Writing Kim feels like a first draft. Not of a story, but of an entire creative career. You can tell this is a debut feature. This is the kind of story that is sometimes necessary to write to “get it out of your system” early in a creative career. It’s also the kind of story that’s going to have a lot more meaning for the writer than for any given audience. And yet, it’s extremely easy to be an audience for Writing Kim. This movie is on at least a half dozen free streaming services as well as Amazon Prime. Movies aren’t really a creative medium that offers a chance to go unseen. And well, I did see it. I hope this movie was meaningful to those who made it. Because it certainly wasn’t to me as an audience.

Despite her boyfriend’s protests, aspiring writer Annie heads off on a road trip to find inspiration. Annie has fears of her parents railroading her into a career as a lawyer or dentist. While on the road, Annie makes plans to meet up with a friend of hers named Kim. She and Kim initially met in an acting class. Kim now lives with her husband and young son. Annie feels comfortable there and accepts an invitation to stay with Kim and use the location as a “writing retreat.” The effervescent Kim also becomes Annie’s muse. And one of the things that Kim causes Annie to muse on is her sexual fluidity.

There is little originality to Writing Kim. I’ve seen this story before. Like I said, this self-indulgent story about a writer is a full-on cliche at this point. And Writing Kim is not a particularly good example of the cliche. Some of the most iconic literature is writers writing about writers. And within the WLW sphere, Appropriate Behavior is a great movie and that’s about it. I largely don’t care for the self-insert genre. I think you’ve gotta be really great at your craft to pull it off. Because self-indulgent as it is, you still need to invite the audience in and give them a reason to care. I do not think Writing Kim succeeded at doing this. Like I said, I expect this film meant a lot to the people who made it. But it meant very little to me, a person who watched it.

There also just isn’t enough here to fill out a feature film. The directors have a few shorts to their name. But the jump from short film to feature seemed to be a rough transition. Unless your movie is some sort of breathless, no-brakes anxiety trip, there’s going to be downtime in the film. Especially in a story like this. Some moments and dialogue are meant as simple between-moments filler. The dialogue is dull and meandering. It’s neither interesting nor does it take the opportunity to develop much character. It makes it feel like there isn’t enough story to fill out 78 minutes. But this isn’t really the case, because you absolutely can fill out a feature film with almost any plot. Certainly this one. Writing Kim just wasn’t good at finding a way to do that.

Writing Kim ends with Annie assuring her cab driver that the book she is going to write about her experiences will be a good one. Well, I guess that book turned out to be a movie. And that movie is quite simply, not good. There is no mastery of the craft visible in Writing Kim. Which you can expect from a first time feature. But there isn’t a unique point of view to focus on either. While again, I think this movie was probably a good one for the creators to exorcise from their system and turn into a complete project, it doesn’t change the end result. That end result is that there is nothing in this film I would recommend.

Overall rating: 2.2/10

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