Directed by "David Ash", "INCOMPLETENESS" is a must watch series that should definitely be on everyone’s to-watch list. David has previously written and directed a feature film, Twin Cities, for which he has won five awards at various film festivals, including the Amsterdam Film Festival. David Ash is not only writer and director of "INCOMPLETENESS", but is the producer as well. The first season of the series is one hour, fifty-one minutes.
"INCOMPLETENESS" has a shocking beginning: there is the sound of a fist knocking on the door of a room, and then the audience is instantly thrown into the universe of the film, amid a catastrophic event: a very young boy blows his brain out in the room and his parents can only enter the room when he is dead. However, the magnetism of the series begins from this very moment: Suddenly, in the middle of this devastating scene, the director cuts, and the audience finds out what they were witnessing is part of a film the crew is trying their best to record. This stunning opening draws attention to a kind of "film within a film" and reveals the filmmaker’s other important concerns such as making intervals and how he has been able to warn the audience from the outset that their expectations are going to be constantly contradicted.
Admittedly, “INCOMPLETENESS” is a complex series that seeks to blend reality and imagination and aims at mixing up what is really happening and what is imaginary to bridge the gap between the two. The series features a filmmaker planning to make a film while we are aware, at the same time, that it is part of a series directed by David Ash all along. "Film within a film" has always been one of the most fascinating techniques for filmmakers in the history of cinema. As in Woody Allen's “Zelig”, filmmakers try to bridge the gap between the real and the imaginary to arrive at a sort of sheer reality or extreme realism. Within the scenes of the series, we are exposed to people's relationships with each other, their views on working conditions, and their own roles in the film. They compliment one another on their acting although they feel otherwise. As the film is being edited, the viewers fluctuate between times, places, and characters. They know that nothing is going well, and literally feel the chaos and madness behind the scenes. While editing, the filmmaker unburdens himself while staring at his webcam, talks about the current situation of his film, and bursts into tears. He then runs some editing software, and edits all that he has recorded, adds a melancholy piece of music to the video, and sits down to watch himself. “INCOMPLETENESS” is about these moments when one can create something out of one’s sufferings and color it as one desires.
There are several layers to the series, and the viewers are simultaneously presented with the process of the filmmaking (the relationship between the director and the screenwriter, the conflict between the two with their private lives, and their conversations about the meaning of life and man’s control over his life, and the like), and the relationships between others (the main actors of the film meet after recording for hours and start a romantic relationship). This simultaneity adds other appealing dimensions to the series, and helps David Ash to rescue the series from monotony and infuse different rhythms to it. The series focuses on the worlds of the writer, the director, and the actors in turn. This advantageously enables the audience to relate to different characters: at times they can relate to the rather shy writer whose personality is in sharp contrast with his profession, and seems to be unable to establish a relationship with others or keep up a conversation on the right track, and tries to change the script as the director demands. At other times, they can relate to the director and hear him articulate his inner thoughts, problems, and fears and even his pregnant wife and how she is trying to cope with her loneliness. This diversity is one of the salient features of "INCOMPLETENESS".
