AMELIA

Directed by Neil Oseman

2023 (2015)

It’s incredible what an impact editing can have on a picture, especially one working within the confines of a 10–15-minute runtime. Neil Oseman’s Amelia is essentially a remix of his 2015 film Amelia’s Letter, trimming just over three minutes from the runtime and creating something entirely different.

Based on the worst of all afflictions, writer’s block, caused by a century old curse imposed by the harshest rejection letter ever put to paper, the original edit leaned heavily into ghost story tropes. Through glimpses of the titular Amelia, three different writers from across different time periods are lured to their deaths. The pace is slower, and the script from Steve Deery and Stuart Leask shines through.

With the new edit, much of the establishing shots are replaced with hokey jump cuts and effects. It creates a more abstract tone which isn’t wholly bad, but certainly feels lacking considering that with just three additional minutes, the original cut had far more character development and atmosphere.

Unfortunately, it strips much from the film. Watching both edits, I believe that 2023 version tries to replace Amelia’s ghost haunting the grounds with her stood in the writing room, alternatively encouraging and goading Gordon (Frank Simms), however without the context of the 2015 version, this was not clear.

Despite it clearly being Georgia Winters both in the flashback as Amelia, and in the writing room with Gordon, the newest edit seems to position Winters as Gordon’s partner instead of a vengeful spirit. In other major change, in the original cut, each writer types AMELIA before seeing her spirit outside the window. In the newest version, they hear her name spoken by a disembodied voice, which doesn’t quite have the effect.

Winter’s performance is more of focal point in the 2015 version as well, giving us one of the best scenes. The rejection of Amelia’s novella in the 2015 edit is read by Winter’s, giving it some real emotion, but in the 2023 film we get a voiceover from the publisher (James Pyle) which in comparison really takes some of the heart out of the short.

It's a shame because there’s a lot of talent on display, and the 2015 version would fit nicely as a Ghost Story for Christmas. This new edit does it something of a disservice, however, feeling more like a proof of concept instead of the finished article.

You get a far greater idea of the story and the skill involved by watching the original edit, which is still available on Vimeo.

★★

2/5 (2023 edit)

★★★★

4/5 (2015 edit)

Matthew Tilt

Twitter @Matthew_Tilt