The Other Laurens is a movie that’s all dressed up with everywhere to go. But after it gets one foot out the door, it can’t seem to go any further. With a nostalgic neo-noir/grunge visual style that’s sprinkled with touches of fantasy, this feature debut from director and co-writer Claude Schmitz gives us a lot to look at. But as beautiful and visually interesting as it is, its style can only hold our attention for so long before we start to demand more from the plot, which drags on listlessly like a never-ending dream. It sacrifices plot for style and tone, failing to establish emotional stakes as it works to maintain a certain look and mood. What’s frustrating (and unfortunate) is that the story has plenty of potential, but it can’t figure out how to unlock it.
L-R: Louise Leroy as Jade and Oliver Rabourdin as Gabriel in THE OTHER LAURENS. Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures.
As a film that’s part crime drama, part thriller, part neo-noir, part western, and part pulp B movie, it’s safe to say that The Other Laurens has a lot going on — perhaps even too much. At the center of this collision of genres is a somewhat familiar story about estranged relatives and family tension. The key player is Gabriel Laurens (Olivier Rabourdin of Taken and Midnight in Paris), a dull and apathetic private investigator who specializes in cases of infidelity. As Gabriel navigates his mother’s declining health, his niece, Jade (newcomer Louise Leroy), shows up at his door and asks him to investigate the suspicious death of her father, François (Gabriel’s twin brother). For reasons yet unknown, Gabriel is very bitter toward his brother and doesn’t seem to care about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. But after his mother passes away as well, he agrees to help Jade look into it.
Oliver Rabourdin as Gabriel in THE OTHER LAURENS. Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures.
The first few scenes of The Other Laurens lay such a strong visual, thematic, and stylistic foundation that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when things go wrong. Most of this first section actually works really well, pointing to Schmitz’s thorough understanding of genre and his appreciation for cinema nostalgia. Taking cues from Hamlet, the film opens on the exterior of a castle-like building at night where two minor characters discuss the strange apparition of a man whom they thought dead. With the eerie neon sign in the background and the dark, barren landscape surrounding the mysterious building, the opening scene establishes the moodiness that will come to define the film. It also points to something haunting and otherworldly, giving viewers just a brief taste of fantasy. Schmitz returns to this moody neo-noir aesthetic throughout the film, bathing the nighttime scenes in cigarette smoke and a neon glow. Even the realistic and sobering daytime sequences (like the very next scene, in which Gabriel is standing outside the home of a woman he’s investigating) are bleak and depressing, maintaining the mood with muted color palettes and minimalistic sets. If you’re judging The Other Laurens on visual style, cinematography, and mood alone, you won’t find many flaws. But these elements alone aren’t enough to support a two-hour narrative film.
L-R: Edwin Gaffney as Scott, Kate Moran as Shelby, and Marc Barbé as Valéry in THE OTHER LAURENS. Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures.
The first section of the movie holds narrative promise, introducing themes and conflicts that could make for a rich and multi-layered story. Gabriel and Jade are classic estranged relatives, written as polar opposites who can’t help but get under each other’s skin. Their initial conversations go back and forth between heartfelt and awkward, suggesting that the jaded middle-aged man and the wide-eyed youngster might end up really caring about each other and somehow bringing out the best in one another. Rabourdin and Leroy have solid on-screen chemistry that brings the tension between their characters to the surface. Rabourdin wears Gabriel’s apathy like a second skin, revealing his character’s suppressed emotions only with the most subtle expressions. Leroy captures the fierce independence and rebelliousness of a teenager without coming across as annoying, showing the cracks in her confidence at just the right moments.
L-R: Louise Leroy as Jade and Oliver Rabourdin as Gabriel in THE OTHER LAURENS. Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures.
Unfortunately, Rabourdin and Leroy’s stellar performances aren’t enough to make up for the film’s confusing and uneven plot development. Around the time that they arrive at Jade’s home, where her stepmother, Shelby (Kate Moran), is trying to sort out affairs after Francois’s untimely death, the plot loses momentum at a rapid pace. It’s easy to forget Gabriel and Jade’s relationship amidst the awkward, poorly written, and poorly timed scenes in the middle of the film. The dialogue written for Shelby and her friend Scott (Edwin Gaffney), is cheap, awkward, and unnatural, making it difficult for the film to maintain its emotional stakes. The middle section of the film is also stuffed with dull filler sequences that don’t do much for the plot other than reinforce the mood. Plus, the script can’t seem to keep up with Gabriel’s frequent changes of heart, making it difficult to figure out what his intentions are from one scene to the next.
L-R: Louise Leroy as Jade and Oliver Rabourdin as Gabriel in THE OTHER LAURENS. Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures.
Eventually, The Other Laurens does come to a logical conclusion. The last few scenes explain everything the way that a good crime drama should, closing up loose ends with one last twist. While the final scene is kind of a crash and burn, the high-level ending of the story isn’t all that bad — and it deserves a more riveting buildup. It might just be that The Other Laurens is trying to say and do so much that it doesn’t end up saying or doing much of anything at all. While Schmitz effectively combines the visual aesthetics of multiple genres, he struggles to combine these genres narratively. In trying so hard to be unconventional in its storytelling, The Other Laurens puts all its energy into style while forgetting about substance. It lacks the tension that makes moody dramas work, the well-structured plot that makes crime dramas work, and the thrills that make thrillers work. A closer analysis might draw some interesting conclusions about the film’s visual style, but as a first-time watch, The Other Laurens is slow and disappointing.
In select theaters August 23rd, 2024.
Available on VOD August 27th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Yellow Veil Pictures The Other Laurens webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews, streaming
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