Channels (2006)

Directed by Nat ChristianDo You Dare To Dream Of Happiness?WINNER! Auteur Award! 2007 The White SandsOFFICIAL SELECTION! Beverly Hills High Definition Film FestivalBEST ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM AUDIOVISUAL COMPOSITIONFINALIST! Rossano Galante - The 2007 International Film Music ConferenceBlack Racklin has everything one could dream of in life success respect money but he's dead... emotionally. He has a recurring dream of a train passing by with a passenger beckoning him to "hop on." But Black hesitates and the train moves on. Consumed with the pressures of his profession as a movie producer in Hollywood Black at the end of the day sits at home and mindlessly channel surfs to escape his reality. One night he becomes transfixed by an alluring character from a soap opera Katherine who suddenly appears in his living room as if by magic and they instantly fall in love. Is their affection enough to bridge the divide that separate their two worlds? Will Black dare to hop on with her and take a chance or will it be too late?Featuring stellar performances by a veteran cast and awarded the Auteur Award at the White Sands Film Festival Channels delves into universal truths about love life and longing.System Requirements:Running Time: 107 MinutesFormat: DVD HD Genre: DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE Rating: NR UPC: 658769810035 Manufacturer No: VF8100 Product Description

There's just one problem with "Channels" ...

... and that's Nat Christian, who did the triple job of writing, directing, and acting. Apparently this stretched him too thin, because Channels suffers from a weak script and a lackluster performance by him as the male lead. In contrast, Kim Oja, the female lead, is a breath of fresh air.

The story of "Channels" is a pretty straightforward fantasy. A Hollywood producer with professional success but a humdrum personal life falls in love with a TV character. Something inexplicable happens, and she suddenly pops into his life -- and the next day pops out again. When he tracks down the actress who plays the role, he discovers that she's not the same sweet woman he met; instead she's a foul-mouthed shrew. Somehow the TV character has acquired a life in the real world -- except for the time when her show is airing.

The two hit it off, with his work and her show forcing brief separations. But then the character is killed off her show, and he goes to great lengths to try to bring her back from TV limbo. I won't give away the ending, but that's probably the weakest part of Christian's script for this movie.

In her dual roles as TV character and the greatly different actress, Kim Oja brings much-needed spirit to "Channels". Taylor Negron, Ed Asner, Joan Van Ark, and John Kassir are quite good in supporting parts. The production values are good, considering this is clearly a low-budget picture. But overall I have to rate "Channels" a flop, because Nat Christian's reach exceeded his grasp. August 22, 2008

You'll want to change the channel.

I don't write many reviews here, but this film had none and I just watched it and wanted to help others avoid wasting their time and money.

I watched two independent films in one weekend, Rain in the Mountains and Channels. The former suffered from bad acting and unskilled post-production, but had a charming story and acceptable writing. Channels was the exact opposite, with good acting/production but horrible writing. I found the former to be much more forgivable.

The film is a mess. It is about a man who finally finds happiness with a fictional woman from a soap opera who is magically brought into his living room every so often due to a lightning strike. Unfortunately, we are given no reason to care about the man or the woman. We have little explanation as to why they are so unhappy at first, and no real feeling that fate was justified in putting them together. They share a couple of tame dates with each other and fall in love, but the middle of the story drags as all the writers could think of was to have them talk and talk about how great those dates were and how much in love they are.

The beginning is bearable, the middle is long and torturous, and the end is once again bearable as he tries and save her from being written out of the soap so she can come back one last time forever. Overall, though, the sloppy writing, slow pacing, and bland editing make this a clunker to avoid at all costs. If you still want to see this movie, don't buy it, I'll give you my copy. March 8, 2008

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