Going for deep, but foundering
No film called “Seahorses” can reach its end without a monologue about those weirdly shaped critters. In writer-director Jason Kartalian’s modest drama, the big moment comes at the halfway point, when a timid man tells a Craigslist hookup about his pets, which live in captivity for only about a year. “We all have an expiration date,” she shrugs.
Ian Hutton plays the man, Martin, cautiously reentering the dating world after a bad breakup. Justine Wachsberger is Lauren, who in the opening minutes locks herself in Martin’s bathroom. Most of the rest of the film plays out over one night in a swanky L.A. pad, where the mismatched couple gets to know one other.
Kartalian structures “Seahorses” more as a series of overworked speeches than as a spontaneous conversation. Even when Martin and Lauren call friends or relatives, the interactions lack the rhythm of real life.
Much of the potential appeal is tied to whether the viewer cares about the pair. It doesn’t help that both resemble script-notes assembled into rough human form.
“Seahorses” means to say something relevant about modern romance and alienation, and everyone involved does admirable work. But it’s never anything other than an artificial construction, where every detail strains for larger meaning. “Seahorses.” Not rated. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood