3+1 Short Paragraphs: In the Shadow of the Moon

2019, Jim Mickle (Stake Land) -- Netflix

Still cleaning house from the last few months, still not seeing as many movies as I feel I should (yeah, I don't understand the internal pressure either) and not at all seeing as many movies as this whole Pause is supposed to inspire in me. Unlike most people who seem to be truly madly stuck at home, I usually spend my evenings on the sofa watching too many things other than the movies I really want to be watching. Attention spans, escapism vs enrichment, flicker-itis, etc. -- no shortage of excuses, even in these trying times.

Mickle is a die hard indie style director that I just have a strong affection for. I have seen all his feature films, plus really enjoyed his adaptation of Joe R Lansdale's Hap & Leonard. Stake Land continues to be one of my favourite po-ap vampire movies. He has a rather gritty, unpolished nature to his direction which may sound demeaning, but its more about being unfettered by glitz and distracting style. The grime I associate with his imagery is personal, real. That he decided to tackle a time travelling crime story, didn't hurt my desire to see this movie.

Locke (Boyd Holbrook, Logan) is a beat cop in Philadelphia in the 80s who is trying to break the case where the victims basically melt down, blood draining everywhere. Locke insinuates himself into the investigation and ends up chasing a suspect down into the subway, where she dies, but not before providing him strange details that connects the two of them. Nine years later, now a detective, the murders begin again, ending again with Locke confronting the same killer who died nine years earlier. Nine years later, well you get the point, this is a time travel story with key points in Locke's life and how this one encounter (in 1988) completely guides the rest of his life.

Like all Mickle's work, he gives you something to think about. The story and tone reminded me of 12 Monkeys or even the newer series (no not the adaptation) Travellers. Both involve something that happens in the distant future and how time travel to the past is used to affect their horrible realities. Of course, Mickle's story is more about the trauma it affects on Locke and his extended family, until it can all be wiped away by a ripple in time. Or does it? Parallel time streams and all that...