2025, Bryn Chainey (feature debut) -- download
Daphne (Rosy McEwan, Vesper) and Darcy (Dev Patel, The Green Knight) are a married couple who have come to the Welsh countryside from London. Daphne is an established electronic musician and Darcy is ... her sound man? I was never sure what Darcy was, but he was as enraptured with collecting sound as Daphne was in creating it. It should be noted that it is 1976 and thus all of Daphne's electronic musical instruments are giant, modular analog monstrosities. Its odd that I was offered this movie, considering I have just become aware of "Look Ma No Computer", a YouTube musician known for his use of modular synthesizers. Not that he is anything like Daphne's music, which is more akin to Laurie Spiegel. Anywayz, Daphne is into discordant soundscapes, and is suffering a bit of a block, while Darcy is out recording water dropping and murmurations.
One day while wandering a forested hillside, Darcy comes across a pool of water obviously reacting to an unheard sound. He puts on his headphones, adjusts his big mic and hears.... music & voices, if you stretch your mind enough to call the sounds that. He follows them, comes across a fairy ring and before we can yell at the screen, "Don't walk into that !!" we find him waking up in its centre.
What has Darcy done...
Not long after Daphne sees someone watching the house. Darcy, on one of his wandering treks, also catches a young... boy (?) hiding in the grass. The child (Jade Croot, The Witcher) is obviously a wild creature of the hills and moors, threadbare coat, thick Welsh accent and very odd nature. Darcy introduces them to Daphne and thus begins a co-dependent relationship. Both are obviously seeking something from the other, including inspiration for Daphne's music.
Meanwhile Darcy continues to suffer from night terrors, a dream of a looming figure at the foot of his bed, which leaves him with sleep paralysis.
The Child, which never gives the couple their name, begins to manipulate the situation more and more, until they have a "gift" for Daphne, and the two walk out into the woods, through a tunnel under a hill (again, we yell at the screen, "Never do that!!") and into an ancient wooded area. By this time Darcy is already panicking and has to follow, but ends up having more and more visions. Daphne ends up being incredibly disturbed by the experience, finally seeing the Child as being something strange and otherworldly and ends up asking them to leave, after a strained night where they claim to have become the couple's child.
It gets worse for the couple.
This is an incredibly well shot, well recorded movie with powerful performances especially from Jade Croot as The Child. The problem lies in that its not sure what it can do with this obviously sly, manipulative fae creature as it shies close to folklore but also to metaphorical family trauma. The ending is weird, gross and mystical but not entirely satisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment