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‘A Dark Song’ Makes Occult Magic Scary (and Human) Again [Fantastic Fest Review]
If your average horror movie is an indication, the occult is a piece of cake. Grab a dusty old tome from your local library, pick up a Ouija board, light a candle or two and voila! You’re ready to open a portal, summon a demon, or cleanse a house of a vengeful spirit. Genre movies have a habit of making magic look easy and convenient. Either anyone can do it, or an exposition-spouting expert is just a quick phone call away.
A Dark Song isn’t that kind of movie. Writer/director Liam Gavin has made a movie where black magic isn’t just dangerous and a good way endanger your soul – it’s also really, really difficult and it takes a long time. Here is a movie about a single dark ritual that takes place over the course of six months.
Set almost entirely in an isolated Welsh country home, A Dark Song follows Sophia (Catherine Walker) as she hires a bitter and anti-social occultist named Joseph (Steve Oram) to assist her in a dangerous black magic ritual that, if successful, will grant them their heart’s desire. Joseph lays every card on the table: once the house is in encircled in salt and the ritual has begun, they cannot leave under any circumstance. They will endure physical and mental suffering. They will fast and pray and draw meticulous symbols in chalk. They will slowly find themselves out of step with reality as various other planes of existence bleed into theirs, bringing all kinds of unwelcome guests. And most importantly, Sophia and Joseph will have to learn to live with each other — a task easier said than done for a woman with more than a few dark secrets and a man who simply doesn’t enjoy the company of other humans.
From director Sonia Kennebeck and executive producers Wim Wenders and Errol Morris, NATIONAL BIRD follows the harrowing journey of three U.S. military veteran whistleblowers determined to break the silence surrounding America’s secret drone war. Tortured by guilt for their participation in the killing of faceless people in foreign countries, and despite the threat of being prosecuted under the Espionage Act, these three veterans offer an unprecedented look inside this secret program to reveal the haunting cost of America’s global drone strikes. Also featuring famed defense attorney Jessalyn Radack—best known for representing Edward Snowden—NATIONAL BIRD is the first film that has revealed so much first-hand information about the U.S. drone program through on-the-record sources, connecting the stories of veterans and survivors as never seen before in a documentary.
It’s difficult to imagine what a script for all of this would even look like. Whatever The Alchemist Cookbook has to express, it expresses through scenes that feel as though someone were dared to do something while a camera rolled, in the near-extinct tradition of the transgressive underground movie.
Via: http://www.avclub.com/review/personal-a ... fia-243563
Belligerent Savant » Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:25 pm wrote:.Perhaps horror as a genre is a luxury for those that needn't worry about experiencing such trauma regularly. The privilege of First World comfort, ay?
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