![]() ![]() This combination of metaphorical and literal isolation recalls other films about people left behind after some great vanishing, like The Quiet Earth. This harrowing experience strips away the artificial veneer of their puppy love days, and demands that they be brutally honest with their needs and expectations of one another-this is manifested in episodes that are alternately touching and painful. In this way, their trial is like that of children who are cast out into the scary, real world on their own, forced to adapt without the security of a proverbial safety net. The struggle to survive in the face of this quiet apocalypse is a tribulation-a test to see if they can survive as independent adults when the comforts of civilization begin slowly drying up. Jenai urges Riley to seek out other survivors so she can feel less alone, and she occasionally takes out her fears and frustrations on her boyfriend, who seems reckless by comparison. Jenai's crisis is an existential one, although she masks her fear by asserting that she is afraid for their survival. Jenai is a Christian, but one who ultimately struggles with her faith and her understanding of the world after the event she likens to the rapture. Similarly, Jenai speaks of her father's church back home as being bland compared to one they visit with a lovely stained glass window. Although he comes across as flippant and irresponsible to Jenai, he is resigned that he will not allow something he cannot control in turn control him. ![]() This in turn speaks to his seemingly ambivalent, carefree attitude when he and Jenai are alone in the world. He says it is because it reminds him of something his father told him about how the imperfections in the camera film are good, because they speak to its authenticity. One of the more telling scenes before the event is when Jenai and Riley are in a cafe, and Riley talks about why his vintage camera is important to him. Even before the massive swell of light which heralds the disappearance of virtually all other humans on the planet occurs, there are moments suggesting that they have different values and interpretations of the world. Things seem pleasant between the two young lovers at the start although they sleep in separate rooms at their hotel, their relationship has clearly advanced enough that they are willing to travel overseas with one another. Bokeh is a film about perspective, which is especially relevant in how both Jenai and Riley have perspectives that become more divergent-their own motivations and desires begin to appear "out of focus" to one another as the film progresses. For example, Riley is an amateur photographer and cherishes a vintage camera he brings with him, taking frequent snapshots while in Iceland. ![]() Although never actually spoken in Bokeh, the term is relevant on multiple metaphorical levels. The word "bokeh" is a term used to describe the "way a lens renders an out of focus point of light" it is generally used as a stylistic device in photography to give more pronounced attention to the object in focus or under scrutiny. ![]()
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