-Written by Kyle Bain.
2024 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
A struggling singer, Camille Trust (Camille Trust), is struggling to find her place in a densely populated field. Though the industry is saturated, Camille has booked an appearance on SNL–now ready to make it big. She now must face the backlash of vindictive Swifties, a strained relationship with her friends, and self sabotage. I Need Your Love is Camille’s story.
I Need Your Love plays out like a miniseries, depicting separate but connected pieces of Camille’s story. Like can happen in series of this nature, ones that often follow a headstrong female protagonist, I Need Your Love tends to go over the top, and be too aggressive in its presentation. Trust is a bit too much in I Need Your Love, and I think that stems from the direction of Writer-Director Walker Kalan rather than from her abilities. Each and every one of the characters present in I Need Your Love presents themselves in a similar fashion, extending my belief that Kalan oversteps just a bit too much, that he was responsible for the actors turning their characters into something akin to a caricature. With the narrative being relatively simplistic (and that’s a good thing), the characters, as a result of the acting, can overshadow the rest of the series.
What I thoroughly enjoyed about I Need Your Love is the fact that Kalan touches heavily on the idea of Swifties and the culture that they have created over the course of the past few years. I have struggled massively with understanding the hype behind Taylor Swift, why it is that people (primarily females) from around the world have gravitated toward her, and been willing to pay thousands of dollars to see her perform what I believe to be mediocre songs at best. Sure, I’m taking this opportunity to air my grievances about Swifties and their leader–but I Need Your Love also tackles this. I don’t want to put words in Kalan’s mouth, but it seems that he, too, has issues with the Swifties–and I’m here for it. Sure, there will be hardcore Swifties that turn their noses up to the notion that I Need Your Love pokes fun at them, but I found the sentiment entertaining and completely honest.
I Need Your Love is fast paced, never taking a breath, never taking a step back. On one hand I feel that viewers may find it difficult to keep up, to keep their footing and remain focused enough to absorb the plethora of information presented at Bolt-like speed. On the other hand, however, I found the miniseries to be enticing as a result of its pacing. It’s clear that I Need Your Love won’t appeal to everyone, that the series has the potential to reach only a niche group of viewers–but getting through the narrative as quickly as it does, it shouldn’t be too difficult for viewers to remain focused from episode to episode.
It seems that Kalan knows what his target audience is, and he finds what I believe to be an acceptable balance, likely to appeal to a wider audience as a result. The aggressive characters can sometimes be too much to handle, but the fast-paced nature of the series affords viewers the opportunity to remain focused for only a short period of time. I Need Your Love may not necessarily be my cup of tea, but it hits a series of notes that do appeal to me.
Written & Directed by Walker Kalan.
Starring Camille Trust, Inés Nassara, Athan Chekas, David Axel, Ava Hsu, etc.
6/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
