Phantom Love (2007)

Feature Film | Experimental Drama | USA/India | English | 1h27m
Dir: Nina Menkes | Scr: Nina Menkes | Ph: Chris Soos | Prod: Kevin Ragsdale | Mus: Rich Ragsdale | Ed: Nina Menkes | PD: S. Logan Wince | Snd: Joseph Tsai | Cast: Marina Shoif, Juliette Marquis, Yelena Apartseva, Bobby Naderi, Lena Bubenechik, Adi Spektor

Dreams, fantasies, nightmares, and the everyday bleed in and out of each other, as scenes of sex, emotional breakdown, gambling, and the televised War on Terror intermingle, in Menkes’s sensuous (and indeed sensual) experimental drama. The bravely physical performances of Shoif and Marquis prove intensely visceral, whilst Soos’s crisp black & white photography strokes the soul and Menkes’s forceful storytelling and imaginative mise en scène both please and challenge in equal amounts.