Review by Chris Walts

When It Was Blue, directed by Jennifer Reeves, is an experimental environmental film that presents, rather than discusses, our current world and the environmental issues surrounding it. Shot with a visual style that almost seems borrowed from Sin City, Reeves works from a base pallet of black and slowly adds in vibrant colours pushing her central metaphor of our dark world once being full of life and colour.

When It Was Blue can be a difficult film to try and engage with it at first as it only offers a jumble of images in black and white that are seemingly random. As an audience member you simple have to let go of your preconceived notions and enjoy the splendor that is before you. There is a journey that takes place when watching When It Was Blue, but instead of it belonging to a protagonist it belongs to the audience. Reeves takes us from our busy urban black scrambled lives through to beautiful blasts of colour in nature, and then ultimately back to the ocean where we all began. I would highly recommend When It Was Blue for anyone looking for a fresh new look on the world around us, and what we need to do to save it.

When It Was Blue
Jennifer Reeves | Iceland | 2008 | 68min