Orion

Greetings again from the darkness. One of the things that watching so many movies has taught me is to respect the filmmaker's vision. Because of this philosophy, I can usually find some connection … the story, a character, the setting, or the camera work. It's rare when no part of a movie works for me, and it's even rarer to stumble on a real clunker at the Dallas International Film Festival. Writer/director Asiel Norton's latest drove more than a few festival goers to head for the exits within a short period of run time.

Post-apocalyptic films by nature are bleak affairs, as they attempt to show us what will happen if we human beings continue on our current path. This one takes place about 100 years after humanity is mostly wiped out. We follow The Hunter (David Arquette) as he scavenges for food in a world known as The Rust. He also deals with voices telling him that he is the chosen one … the savior of humanity … Orion.

As with so many saviors, The Hunter gets distracted from his destiny. His challenge is to rescue The Virgin (Lily Cole) from being held prisoner by Magos (Goran Kostic), a magician/mystic/shape-shifter who follows the rituals laid out in detail within an elaborately published document to which he subscribes. The only other real characters are The Fool (Maren Lord) and a newborn infant baby who is the victim of one of Magos' cruelest acts.

All of these elements could be the foundation for an interesting project, but some serious script work was necessary before this one went to production. It seems Mr. Norton was mostly concerned with pounding viewers with his style rather than providing any real story or character development. The shaky-cam is so excessive and filled with close-up that some will undoubtedly approach nausea. The narration and religious overtones are borderline irritating, but at least there is some humor in the use of Tarot cards as chapter headers (as if there were a story) … and of course filming in Detroit and calling it The Rust.

Maybe this is what films will look like after the end of civilization. I should have waited until then to watch this one.

First of all this is not your typical science fiction film or post apocalyptic movie. I saw it about two weeks ago because it came up in my que, but I'm just writing a review now because I can't get it out of my mind, and I'm not sure if this one has been noticed. The images just stick around. David Arquette starts out wandering in this waste land, and he eats a rat. Then Lily Cole gives birth and the baby gets buried by this guy covered in paint with a goat, and it's all down hill from there. I guess it's pretty weird and pretty heavy. But it looks amazing, particularly for an indie, and it really creates this unique, surreal world that actually feels very real. I thought I was in for a slasher gore fest, but I ended up in this bizarre sadistic, handheld, moving artwork. It's part fantasy, part science fiction, part fairy tale, part dream. I honestly don't even know how to describe it. There's tarot cards that sort of tell the story, and a satanic cannibal wizard called Magus. It seems like it would be a campy thrill ride, but it's way more. This is more for film buffs. It's like Jodorowsky meets Bela Tarr meets Stephen King. The story reminded me of King's book "The Gun Slinger." David Arquette gives the best performance of his career, I can honestly say it's like nothing he's ever done before. I rented it on Amazon thinking to watch a horror movie, but this feel more European than like a typical American horror movie. Not what I was expecting. It's more of a deranged fairy tale. Anyway, not for the faint of heart, or those looking looking for some fun chills with laughs. This is definitely arthouse. For those interested in taking a symbolic ride into a weird dark world looking into the shadowy soul of man, this is a real treat. It is definitely one to remember, and definitely not something you'll ever see anything like again.

The camera work in this movie is truly awful. Nearly every shot of this movie is 'too close' to whatever is happening on screen and made even worse by the hand-held camera shake. Particularly when anything even remotely interesting is happening. There's barely a scene where you can clearly see what is happening on the screen... which is unfortunate, because occasionally something happens that you might actually WANT to see. Throughout the whole movie there are two colors: black and a reddish haze. Which I understand is to make it look more 'post apocalyptic', but it just doesn't work to create a film that people want to look at.

And then there's the script... or is there? You'll probably need subtitles to figure out what they are mumbling in the dark (when they bother to speak at all). All that said, I can only assume that anyone who enjoyed this is really good at using their imagination and creating a picture in their own head of what is going on. Personally, I don't really think it's worth the effort of trying.