New & Notable: Magnesium
Directed by: Sam De Jong
A gymnast preparing for national competition discovers that she is pregnant and decides to have abortion. The Doctor explains that the law requires for her to take five days to think about her decision before the procedure can be performed. So she goes to think. With very little plot or action, Director Sam De Jong gives us a truly intimate portrait of a girl in trouble.
The film opens on Isabel’s face, pony tail wagging behind her, and the camera stays there for the almost 20 minutes we spend with this character. This is a girl who is totally alone in her choices and the filmmakers bravely let her be in order tell us her story. It is an exercise in subtlety. The actress here, Denise Tan, is deft and focused. She never so much as emotes. She thinks, and her eyes communicate the strain of her choices quietly and effectively. It is a performance that builds to a climax where her training for competition strikes us more as punishment and a joyride on go-carts becomes self-injury.
Sometimes a Good Notion 