Blending real footage with filmed sequences set during the time period, Morning Star seeks to provide an intimate romance pinned against the UK’s involvement in WW2. Christina (Larissa Bonaci) is a British entertainer who arrives in Malta in 1939. She soon meets Warby (Ben Lamb), an RAF pilot, and their mutual charm and elegance help them hit it off.
What follows is a tidy little tale of romance between two souls far from home. Director Zara Balfour provides a steady hand, imbuing the period drama with a sense of confidence. There’s just enough personality in the character exchanges to give a warm glow to the proceedings. The archival footage sets the viewer firmly in the time period and global context of Malta during this period, and much credit should be given to the era-appropriate production design. It’s clear how much care and attention to detail was given to this short film; nothing is phoned in or cynically placed.
The two leads are undoubtedly the core of the film. Theirs is not a blazing romance full of public displays of affection and passionate romantic sequences. There’s a coy politeness that hides a simmering romantic tension between the two, and the actors do a nice job of portraying this push-and-pull game. Their time spent together in their new, potentially temporary surroundings and the bond they hope to build provide a solid foundation for drama regarding the future of their relationship.
Though it harkens back to epic historical romances of the 1990s like Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) and The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996), Morning Star seeks to do so in a much, much shorter runtime. It has enough charm to it that it mostly works, even if there’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking in the storytelling effort. It does what it seeks to do: tell a love story between two people in the primes of their lives set against unfathomable conflict. For a runtime of under half an hour, Morning Star uses each scene well enough to succeed overall.
Morning Star shows in the 3rd Mediterrane Film Festival.
