I'm hesitant to even describe the basic plot of this film in fear that I could possibly lessen the experience of watching it. I'll use IMDB as my spoiler threshold and not go any further than its synopsis but in my humble opinion you should go into this film with nothing more than its title. Just take my word for it and watch it, the film is wonderfully innovative from a visual perspective and deeply touching from an emotional perspective. To describe the film in a word, its beautiful. I emailed Philp Blue immediately after seeing the film even though I had an interview scheduled with him two days later. I wanted to say "thank you" for sending me the screener but mostly I wanted to start talking about the film. I didn't want to wait two days, I wanted to talk about this film immediately.
I remember the conversation I had with some friends after we saw PULP FICTION for the first time. We stood next to our cars for close to an hour and talked about the film. We were all heading to the same place but taking separate cars and we couldn't wait 15 minutes to start dissecting what we just saw. I'm in no way saying that A GHOST AND THE BOY WITH A BOX ON HIS HEAD is PULP FICTION but it did hit me in the gut in a similar way. Both films contain elements I had seen before but I had never seen them presented in "that" way. With GHOST AND THE BOY I'm sure people will make comparisons to Michel Gondry's ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and while those comparisons will be valid and worth exploring I hope people will recognize how truly unique this film is.
This film takes what could be an uncomfortable subject matter and addresses it in a poetic and at times lyrical manner. We are never spoon fed opinions about what the film is trying to say instead we are given a window into a young man's mind and allowed to draw our own conclusions about the deeper meaning of the film. This is one of those rare films that you can appreciate on multiple levels either simultaneously or individually on separate viewings.
After seeing this film one of the first questions you will ask yourself is "who the fuck is Mykal Rees-Davies?" I hadn't seen him in anything prior to this film but dear god he is the real deal and I fully expect to be seeing more of him. The film is centered on Theo (Rees-Davies) and his projection of the ideal woman in Sadie (Catherine Velarde)
The cast here is great all around. Most independent films of this size can look great now thanks to the affordability of digital cameras. I stress the word can in that last sentence, they "can" look great is a far cry from they all look great. Back to the cast. Casting is where we can see the small budget these days. The aesthetic playing field has been somewhat leveled but there isn't really a way to cover up amateurish performances and the acting in this film is fantastic.
As you can tell I was completely taken by this film and look forward to seeing it again, soon. The film will be playing at the Arizona International Film Festival on Friday April 24th at The Screening Room at 10pm. Find out more information on the film through the Official Website and or like them on Facebook.
Comments