Kristen Stewart has done an amazing job of shedding the last remnants of that Twilight glitter trail these last few years. Her work in independent film has been captivating, and she appears to have slipped into a creative groove.
Now, Stewart has tried her hand at directing with Come Swim, an avant garde meditation in steely blacks, whites, and blues. It is certainly an expressionistic work, but it has the energy and introspection of a woman hitting her creative stride.
Check it the 18-minute short here:
Kristen Stewart discussed the project at length with Refinery29 back before Sundance in January. You can find the full interview here, but here’s a few things she had to say:
“[T]his movie is like full-frontal heartbreak. I’m definitely not shying away from that, that’s absolutely what it’s about… It’s that first fall to this existential netherworld. You can attack yourself with memories or, depending on perspective, you can take a step back and say, ‘Actually, it wasn’t so bad. That was fun, we did have fun and it was nice.’”
It is heavy thematically stuff, and technically it’s fascinating to see cinema through the eyes of Stewart, who is a special talent. The sound design and the music from St. Vincent set up an unnerving dreamscape, and Stewart clearly has an eye for composition and an ability to create nightmarish imagery.
It will be fun to see where she goes from here as a director.
