Tag: reincarnation

TIMESTALKER – Review

Alice Lowe and Nick Frost in TIMESTALKER. Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment

Alice Lowe has garnered a couple of dozen awards and nominations for her work on both sides of the camera, including some for this fantasy dramedy, TIMESTALKER, in which she wears the three main hats of writer, director and star. And wears them pretty well.

Lowe stars as Agnes, who lives a number of very different lives, from low-born in the 1600s, to rich and privileged in 1973, to middle class in more modern times. Her name and face remain the same, as do people playing a variety of roles in each of her incarnations. Nick Frost is a loutish husband in one and a stalker in another. Tanya Reynolds’ Meg may arise as a servant or friend in Agnes’ sequential rebirths; Jacob Anderson crops up in assorted supportive capacities. One constant is the emergence of a handsome guy named Alex (Aneurin Barnard), who is always her just-out-of-reach Mr. Right, regardless of how they meet. Only Agnes recalls those prior lives, and even then, only fitfully.

The premise allows all the principals to flaunt some range among their diverse incarnations. It also provides a generous diversity of sets and costumes, which probably ate up a larger-than-average percentage of the budget. Agnes’ personae may not always be particularly likable, but her vulnerability keeps the requisite empathy in place through all her changes. A few minor recurring elements also enhance the continuity from one Agnes to the next.

As actress and director, Lowe carries the ball quite capably. Her looks and bearing remind me of celebrated actress Olivia Colman (with whom she and Frost appeared in one of my all-time favorite comedies, 2007’s HOT FUZZ). The pace is good. The fact that the running time in each period varies considerably adds to the humor and suspense factors. She tosses in a few surreal touches, and occasional bits of comic gore for added liveliness. But Lowe’s script meanders somewhat in many of the segments, diluting its effectiveness. For all the frustrations she endures time after time, the lack of substance is unfortunate. There are some exemplary comic highlights, but not as many as the premise could have delivered.

If you don’t believe in reincarnation, this flick will not convince you it exists. I don’t believe in it, but know that in a previous life I did. (Sorry. Old joke I just had to recycle here. Impulse control is not one of my defining traits.) The final product is a pleasant bit of escapism that you can enjoy, as long as you’re not expecting “profound.”

TIMESTALKER opens in theaters and in digital formats on Friday, Feb. 14.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

THE MIDNIGHT SWIM – The Review

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THE MIDNIGHT SWIM is a hauntingly beautiful character study about three half-sisters who return to their mother’s lake house to handle her affairs after she was deemed drowned in the mysterious Spirit Lake. Technically classified as horror, the film can be psychically disturbing at times, but this does misrepresent the film’s true nature.

Writer and director Sarah Adina Smith presents her film in a semi-faux-documentary style, allowing the viewer to get close and personal with the characters as we learn about them and feel how they’re coping with the relationship flaws and loss of their mother. THE MIDNIGHT SWIM feels like a deeply personal film, but with an edge of having experienced something with which we never should have been given access.

Dr. Amelia Brooks, played in retrospect by Beth Grant, was a researcher and activist in support of saving the lake. She frequently dove to take samples and explore, as no one has ever reached the bottom of the endlessly deep body of water. On her last dive, she never returned and was not seen again. Officially pronounced dead, her three daughters spend time in the house together, coming to terms with each other and their mother.

Annie, played by Jennifer Lafleur, is the eldest daughter and a mother. Isa, played by Aleksa Palladino, seems to be the youngest, free-spirited and fun-loving, new age hippie out of her time. She rekindles an old flame with Josh, played by Ross Partridge, with whom she spends time when not with her sisters. Isa is also the most interesting character in the film. June, played by Lindsay Burdge, is a photographer and is shooting a documentary on their experience. We see and hear the least from June, given she is in part telling the very story we’re watching on screen, but she also has reflective and revealing moments on screen, some of which are entirely silent but equally unnerving.

THE MIDNIGHT SWIM is not a traditional horror film. Instead, the three sisters find themselves exploring their own states of mind and each others’ as they talk, argue and reminisce about their late mother. Occasionally, their is a slight, thinly-veiled breach of the fourth wall as if the characters are interacting directly with the audience, due to the faux-documentary style, but because this is not maintained consistently throughout the film, we’re caught off guard. As the story develops, strange occurrences do begin to raise concerns amongst the sisters, at first assuming pranks being played in poor taste, later seen as signs of something more paranormal in nature.

Sonically, THE MIDNIGHT SWIM almost seems to occur in a vacuum, with little music and laid over mere natural sound and white noise. Occasionally, and usually when cutting to or featuring the lake itself, we are given hauntingly, unearthly soundscapes as an ethereal audio pathway leading us into the unknown. Tempting us to take a swim. Equally alluring is the picturesque quality given the lake, especially at night, dark and enchanting, calling for us to submerge within in abyss.

THE MIDNIGHT SWIM contains several small, easily missed moments of finely crafted detail, much of which suggests theories and clues as to the events being portrayed on film. From microscopic views of their mother’s lake samples, revealing creepy natural beasts invisible to the naked eye to hand-written research notes indicating strange anomalies within the lake as she ventured deeper with each dive. Carefully placed bits of dialogue are also integrated to suggest connections to things larger and beyond our normal comprehension. These are the textures that help create layers of curiosity, avoiding the pitfall of being just a film about three sisters and their drama. This helps create the mystery.

Roughly 45 minutes into the film, the experience whiplashes the viewer out of the pleasantly coma-inducing family drama into a surreal, music-video like scene that injects a surge of joyous adrenaline into the previously sedated mind. This excursion from the tone of the film is never truly explained, in any conceivable way, but aside from this moment, all makes sense in the end. For viewers of THE MIDNIGHT SWIM that enter into the experience without preconceived notions or misguided expectations, this may prove an enlightening, even oddly uplifting film.

THE MIDNIGHT SWIM is slow at times, can be disorienting or slightly confusing, but is best described as an uncomfortable, intimately personal invitation to invade the emotional psyche of these three women at their most vulnerable. Its equally off-putting and tantalizing, philosophically and spiritually suggestive, making for a film that is not perfect, but far from boring.

THE MIDNIGHT SWIM Dives Into Cinemas and VOD Nationwide on Friday, June 26th, 2015.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review: ‘Circulation’

Circulation (2008) was written and directed by Ryan Harper. The film stars Yvonne Delarosa and Sherman Koltz as two wandering souls in an alternate purgatory-like dimension where people retain human form but are driven by the instincts of the animals they are destined to be reincarnated as in their next lives. In this strange existence Ana (Delarosa) has visions of becoming a caterpillar, while Gene (Koltz) roams the Mexican desert seeking prey to store for food as a spider would hunt and store its food. The two characters meet by chance when Gene picks her up on the side of the road. They develop an odd relationship without reliable communication, as Ana does not speak English and Gene does not speak Spanish. Gene is compelled to protect the fragile Ana as she flees from the danger of her ex-husband, who appears to be driven by the instincts of some sort of predatory beast.

Despite being shot on a low-budget, as is the case with most indie films, Circulation relies heavily on its unique story to draw the audience into its world. Harper shows that even with a limited budget, he can still stretch that dollar by utilizing creativity, ingenuity and a clear understanding of what it takes to make an interesting movie. More often than not, the most imaginative cinematic concepts are presented in small, under-appreciated independent films and Circulation is further proof of that trend. View the trailer below or visit the official website.

[rating: 3/5]