There is no doubt that every filmmaker loves movies. (A bold and optimistic statement, I know.) I often think back to Cinema Paradiso (1968), Hugo (2011), and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019), where directors dare to visually capture cinephilia on the screen–filmmakers paying homage to the greats before them. I would argue that perhaps the most powerful films are the ones that reflect our own lives back at us, which is why we are often so moved, as film lovers, when cinephilia is shown.

Win Marks makes his directorial debut with Do You Say What You Mean?–an intimate look at the development and decay of a relationship. With natural and vulnerable performances from the two leads, Do You Say What You Mean?, is a personal, genuine attempt at capturing the small episodes of life that we experience every day.

It is clear, in the style, reminiscent of Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (1962) or Godard’s Masculin Féminin (1966) and Le Mépris (1963), that Marks and his team want to pay homage to the intimate, new-wave storytelling style and their own little corner of the world. Opening in a recording studio, the camera is, at first, unsure on who it is going to follow. We see Sean (Skylar Adams) and Aliyah (Taylor Brianna), members of the posy watching the musicians work, meet for the first time. There is somewhat of a curious connection, so the camera takes us, follows them, and we watch a relationship awkwardly blossom. 

The rest of the 87-minute film plays out in small vignettes. Unsure of exactly how much time has passed, we witness moments in Sean and Aliyah’s lives as they grow from a casual to a serious relationship. Decorated with details of the film’s location, Atlanta, Georgia, and the American southeast, the film places us not only in a story but an event that we would expect to witness within our own group of friends. We see ourselves in Sean and Aliyah as their dialogue feels natural and private, as if they are sharing their deepest vulnerabilities unknowing of the camera. In the end, those vulnerabilities, insecurities and uncertainties that come with a relationship begin to cause the two to drift apart. 

Admittedly, I never find myself gravitating towards character study or episodic-style films, but the pacing of Do You Say What You Mean? ensured my genuine investment from start to finish. As mentioned, both leads offer what feels like a glimpse into their real lives, they speak from the heart, relating to us with some of the less-than-exciting facts of life–like the fact that we eventually all age, watch our parents go, and must face the truth about what happens at the end. 

The camera acts as its own character–first deciding who to focus on and then taking us through Sean and Aliyah’s lives by latching onto details and moments rather than the entire narrative. There are frames of hands, smiles, silhouettes, landscapes, shadows, as if we weren’t privileged, all the time, to see the bigger picture. Rather, we were placed in the scene and the details we noticed would be the same ones we would notice if we were in that situation. 

During my chat with Marks on our show, he made it clear that there were two goals: to tell the kind of story that we, ordinary people, would connect to, and to pay tribute to the home where he is building his career. This film accomplishes both. 

In the spirit of critique, I offer one area for improvement–show more. I wanted to see more of Sean and Aliyah’s individual insecurities, goals, and existential crises, and how those translated into the eventual rise and fall of a relationship. (We do get more of this from the character of Sean.) We never get to spend time with them apart. In 87 minutes, a lot was accomplished, but if Antonioni can turn a relationship into a two-hour masterpiece, I believe the young filmmakers from Do You Say What You Mean? can as well.

In short, not only was this a tragic, memorable glimpse into our own reflected lives, but this was a wonderful beginning to what I expect to be a great career for Marks and the rest of the cast and crew from Do You Say What You Mean?

Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas

Images via Win Marks & Belvie Productions