Fast Color is at its best when the film captures the essence of an 80s electric rock video. Unfortunately, those moments are too few and far between and the rest of the film is a mess. Not painfully so, as the biggest crime of Fast Color is putting the audience to sleep.

I really wanted to like what director Julia Hart has put together. Fast Color is a movie about the beautiful power inside of women of color and how you can be so amazing while still being completely helpless. This is a richly metaphorical work of art that has moments which satisfyingly feels like it was reaching for something deeply personal.

Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough linking this powerful metaphor for personal beauty and power to a meaningful narrative. This isn’t inherently a problem by itself, but Fast Color establishes a narrative framework that leaves its audience expecting a measure of grounding to the storytelling. The result is a story that feels surprisingly lost with characters that are directionless, resulting in a film that fails to resolve while feeling like it should.

There are a few small moments where the film’s narrative and metaphorical flows resonate together into something like an outstanding color-drenched music video from another time. For all of its other failings, I loved how I felt during these moments, but they were too rare to overcome the flaws that left me feeling bored.

The cast does a well enough job in the film and the music is passable. These are two areas that could have really served to elevate the style, but they range from mediocre to just mildly enjoyable. They never add to the experience, only prop it up. After the movie was over, none of the supporting elements of the film stuck with me at all as I forgot the music and most of the actors as I walked out of the theater.

While Fast Color is a unique film that may find a home with people who particularly crave its emotional message, most will be turned off by the lack of direction or general skill in its execution. I honestly wish I had been able to enjoy it more. I wish that it had given eloquent housing to the important ideas that reside within it.