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They say that silence is golden, but there is nothing golden about the Belgian drama Lorna's Silence. Even though it received a best screenplay win at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, it is a tremendously slow-paced work that left at least yours truly wondering why he had wasted a small part of his life.

Lorna's Silence begins interestingly enough as Albanian emigrant Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) and her often out-of-town boyfriend Sokol (Alban Ukaj) need money and permanent resident status in Belgium to fulfill the dream of opening a snack bar. Lorna gains her status by marrying Claudy (Jérémie Renier), a heroin addict who is trying desperately to quit.

Although Lorna is in love with Sokol, she begins to slowly develop an emotional tie to Claudy and decides to get a divorce from him rather than see him die from an overdose. Her change of plan upsets Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione), an Italian taxi driver and a low level gangster who paid Claudy to marry Lorna and wants to avoid any police inquires that a divorce filing could provoke. Additionally, Fabio wants Lorna to marry a Russian smuggler who can then get his EU passport. With the money they would get from the entire scheme, Lorna and Sokol could realize their dream, however, a snag occurs and Lorna's life is put in jeopardy.

Not only does Lorna's Silence feel exceedingly slow, it also contains a tangible grayness that seeps into the marrow of your bones by its conclusion. This is certainly not a good thing because the story is entirely depressing with little range of emotion, especially by Dobroshi. The only exceptions are a couple of brief displays of anger by Rongione. There are too many periods of either nothing but silence or just static background noise, and there is little in the way of character depth

Ultimately, Lorna's Silence is a sad, yet unmoving bit of drama with a completely unsatisfying conclusion leaving only shades of gray and no golden glow.

On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Lorna's Silence receives a D.
    
Lorna's Silence is rated R and has a running time of 95 minutes.

Now showing through September 24 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for showtimes.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.

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