Riddle of Fire

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ First off. I doubt you'd find anything quite like this one. The acting from the young main characters are amazing! You can't keep your eyes off them and because of them, they keep you engaged and intrigued throughout the whole film. Start to finish.

Looking for something to watch that you haven't seen a hundred times that both you and your kids will enjoy? This is it. RIDDLE OF FIRE has it ALL. Wholesome,funny,drama,fantasy, action & a tiny innocent but of romance. This director/ Writer is a freaking genius!! I seriously hope to be seeing more from him & what else he has in store for us. He gave the world a true gem with this one...We all need to protect this man with all costs!!!

The story is fun; just three kids raising hell one summer around town and the woods. The cinematography is great. It is shot on 16mm stock, so it has a neat 70's kinda vibe. And the music is great. Music reminds me of 80ms fantasy, which is what the dialogue and story alludes to.

But the acting is terrible by almost all actors. Not even Lio Tipton (the only name I recognized on the bill) can save this disaster of a Goonies-wannabe.

However, please still check it out. Worth supporting an indie movie that looks great and has great music and a good story. Hopefully, this director will use this film as a stepping stone, learn from it, and the next film will be better.

This movie reminds me a lot of the early children adventures movies I have grown up watching as a kid. A story about adventures, fantasy, friendship, and the journey to find something. Using 16mm film, the filmmaker perfectly captures the essence of children fairytale adventures with gorgeous looking production, camerawork, soundtrack, and really good child performances from the cast members.

The writing and the themes explored fits very well with the setting and direction. Many of the choices made feel childish and strange but it is intentional as it helps add the child-like adventures and craziness that we kids would go through to seek an adventure. With the characters being pretty fun to observe, many of the child performances are really good with each feeling nature and realistic of what how children really act and speak.

Although, it isn't a perfect movie. For a runtime of 114 minutes, it does feel tedious and some of the pacing really did drag the movie that made me zone out a little during the second act. But as a whole, I appreciate the filmmaker being able to capture the tone and atmosphere very well and it's definitely a project that he is passionate about.

But I definitely will be keeping an eye on this director.

First thing - I know I would have LOVED this movie as a kid. It has children with strong will, acting independently, not being undermined as "just kids". I think as a kid, I would have watched this film dozens of times.

Secondly, as an adult, I still enjoyed this movie. A kids movie that also works for adults? As a parent, let me tell you, those don't come so easy.

Thirdly, the mix between video-game plot elements, aesthetics, structure, etc. Were delightful. The sets (I had to google where it was filmed - Wyoming I think?) were beautiful, and took us out of the usual "seen this a million times" aesthetics.

Fourth, I think the actors (kid actors) were very natural and did a great job. At no moment in the film did I cringe from acting, even though some film critics didn't seem satisfied (yes The Guardian, I'm thinking of you).

In general, this movie is original and atypical. I actually WANT to reccoment it to people, and feel like I want to keep an eye on the director's future creations. Maybe the reason why critics didn't enjoy it so much is because it neither fits into the festival-film aesthetics, nor the commercial film aesthetics. Why? Maybe because this is an actual Auteur film. The movie conveys a personal sense of reality and fantasy, crosses borders, does its own thing without so much a bother of if it fits into a category or another. It doesn't shy away from scenes that can seem a bit ridiculous, for the purpose of the magic and fantasy of the story and what it conveys.

I give it a big A+ - highly reccomended.

Riddle of Fire is not only shot beautifully in it's own whimsical, 80s filtered camera, but the dialogue alsp feels just as whimsical, yet organic at the same time. The best way to sum up the feel of the film is Princess Bride meets Napoleon Dynamite meets Stranger Things. The premise is simple to the film and many great misadventures spawn from it. All the characters are interesting and have yourself asking what the back stories are to these characters. The youngest boy being the only character with subtitles is always hilarious especially since his lines are so good! Riddle of Fire is set in the modern day but feels so in touch with a past time. You can tell the love that went into this project and that the actors really enjoyed making this film. Can't wait to see what the producer makes next!