A pessimist is a guy in possession of the full facts.

Dreams of a Life
Carol Morley 2011 UK
     

Joyce Carol Vincent died in December 2003, probably. She was 38, beautiful, friendly and from a large family, and no-one noticed she was gone. In 2006 bailiffs forced their way into her flat and found her skeleton, the rest of her having melted into the carpet. Her TV was still on. Loneliness and the anonymity of people we encounter every day is a topic Carol Morley has visited before, chiefly in her 1994 short film I'm Not Here, so she would seem a logical choice to investigate Vincent's life. Unfortunately, there's a problem. Not a filmic one as such, or even a personal one; no, the main problem is the frustrating lack of material. Vincent's family refused to take part but former boyfriends, housemates and colleagues were more forthcoming and painted several pictures of the young woman, mostly different. Was she a bubbly party girl who met, amongst others, Isaac Hayes, Gil Scot-Heron and Nelson Mandela? A troubled loner prone to lying? A battered girlfriend? Possibly all three, but no-one's sure. And despite having been her friends or even her lovers some admit that they don't feel that they knew much about her at all. There are no revelations here which is perhaps Morley's intention, a device to point out how little any of us can really know about each other, but that's really the only conclusion she reaches and she chooses to show it via the clichéd (and slightly nauseating) phrase 'we all need to look after each other more'. I'm not saying that this isn't a valid and even a noble sentiment, it's just that if feels a little anaemic a conclusion for a 90 minute documentary. You feel that somehow there should be a slightly more profound and complex result from such a fervent investigation. Visually there are similar problems as for a long-term artist Morley gives us little more than talking heads and minimal reconstruction. Again this may be intentional but, again, it's a bit dull, and you're left thinking is this it? Actually, that would have been a better title for this post. Is this it?