#cycle22week5

Justin nailed this commercial. First of all, his voice was just amazingly sexy and he was so committed in his delivery that even the dumbest lines sounded serious. He excelled at finding his light the entire time, and I liked his overall stoic approach to his take; his faraway gaze on “feel my boom” was so stunning. His connection to Hadassah was really strong, and (as I said in my review of her commercial) their ending kiss was a magical moment. This was my favorite commercial for the week and Justin was the star of this take, but one other model had a slightly stronger individual performance. 

Every cycle we have that one model who is saved constantly, but then manages to produce one incredible photo that makes it all worthwhile; Hadassah certainly filled that role for Cycle 22. Not only that, but she managed to take an incredibly iconic and beautiful shot in a shoot where the concept was tacky. Even the other strong shots feel more like ads for movies, but Hadassah’s looks like the centre page in a Vogue Italia editorial. It isn’t overacted, but the calmness somehow feels more haunting than any of the intense expressions seen in the other shots. Her face looks divine in profile, and the pose is effortlessly beautiful. The arch in the back, along with the extension of the neck…all pure grace. The arm is slightly stiff, and had that been dropped down vertically it would have been perfection. Definitely no competition for the top spot this week.

Mame almost knocked it out of the part, but that amputated leg just knocks it down. Had that peaked out of the fabric, rather than being hidden, this would be essentially perfect. The details that really make this stand out are the elongations of the limbs. The delicacy of the hand behind the veil and the point of the toe are just the details that take it from horror film, to fashion. Her face is strong too. She managed to commit fully without losing the beauty in her face. After an initial underperformance, Mame is now beginning to gain momentum in the competition.

Even with the cringe-worthy script, I kinda loved these commercials. The setting was amazing and they were shot really well! So much better than the gender swap mess of Cycle 20 and the Spyder Byte Fragrance fiasco of Cycle 21.

I’m not sure why the beginning shot of Hadassah flopping on the ground was left in the final take, but otherwise she did a fantastic job! I loved the casual way she was moving and playing with her hair during her solo segments, and her sort of shy expression fit the “should I?” line flawlessly. In fact, her line delivery had a great balance of innocence and seductiveness that really suited the commercial well. I thought that her chemistry with Justin was very strong too, and that split second of them kissing at the very end was gorgeous. Hadassah really excelled this week!

The Top 4 all did great! Mamé looked so incredibly beautiful during her take, but there were some moments during her solo segments in the fabric where her expression just looked kind of mean/angry (I still loved her airy movements though). Her interactions with Mikey were awesome, and I especially loved the way she caressed his face in the first shot of the commercial and how she moved into him on “should I?” She delivered her lines well too. Mamé delivered a very seductive performance and she continues to be one of the frontrunners.

If this had been a solo commercial Nyle would’ve been in my Top 3. The section were he was by himself and signing the lines was stellar; he was connecting seductively with the camera and the way he was signing was so full of energy. Unfortunately, he and Ashley were hinderances on each other. The didn’t have any real connection until the very end, and the part where they delivered lines together was super staggered and awkward since they couldn’t find a natural cadence. Nyle still did a decent job overall.

Tyra was nuts for giving Bella a 10, but her take wasn’t a colossal train wreck like I was expecting it to be. Her start was pretty awkward and she toed the line of venturing into Devin territory, but she held back just enough. I liked the way she leaned in on “triple action” and how she delivered the “and your abs fierce” line. If she had connected with Courtney better (she looked slightly repulsed at times) this would’ve been way more successful.