Bright Future review - HEARTS KNOW * THE RUNAWAY BRIDES by Kris Kristinsson

An exciting experimentation featuring iconic runaway brides in Kris Kristinsson's film Hearts Know * the Runaway Brides, which had its world premiere in the Bright Future section of the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam.
 

Hearts Know * the Runaway Brides is the materialisation of a lengthy five year shoot that originted from its filmmaker's Kris Kristinsson's heartbreaking experience of having been left at the altar. Instead of crying about it and feeling sorry for himself, he tried to understand and set off on huge travels around the world, connecting with strangers and utilising the narrative gimmick of runaway brides - women running through a number of streets in cities around the world, which in itself is an iconic image of rebellion.

 

The end result is a representation of a versitile type of filmmaking, which can perhaps be described as docu fiction. But it is also a representation of a type of cinema that is at once personal and universal, a true symbolism of human connection and interaction as in his travels, he asks his subjects to come up with a scenario that could have led these "runaway brides" to flee from their one big day. In the process, they end up revealing sides to themselves. In turn, rewardingly, Hearts Know * the Runaway Brides also interacts with its audience, compelled to insert their own feelings and emotions as they watch the work unfold.

Many elements stand out in the film. There is the excitement of travel, which reveals a careful post production and editing process that after all had the dificult task of putting together a very lengthy shoot with the vast majority of footage being shot on amateur video equipment. This excitement is also inevitably revealed by the impulsive examination of the cultural context of the many geographic locations in which the film takes place, and by the words spoken by the subjects as well as the images so vividly portrayed. 

 

Kristinsson also shares with his audience snippets of his own personal life and subjective musing on the concept of marriage. He also does this by examining his personal experience with marriage, and uses the example of his parents' difficult marriage. Furthermore, the afore mentioned "versatility" of the work, allows this film a life that may even go beyond the cinematic exhibition, and could find it suited to museums or art houses.