SQUEAL (2022)
FANTASY/DRAMA
Lost in remotest part of Eastern Europe, Sam is a foreigner, searching for his biological father Lagzdins where a minor road accident leads to a chance meeting with a pig-farmer's daughter, who captures him and making a slave on the farm.
WHAT THIS FILM DOES WELL: I can't help but think there is some sort of weird, disassociation with European farms, mythical animals, and ole fashioned Avant Garde storytelling. Yes one of my favorite Indie films from a year ago Lamb
tested patience and played with love and fear with a design that can so nicely put be called Avant Garde. Squeal while testing boundaries kind of plays with the opposite end of this spectrum. It is as messed up and supremely weird, maybe not as extreme as Lamb or Pig with Nicolas Cage might be, but it straddles and blurs that line for sure. It uses conventions of the fluffy fairy tale narrator guiding you through life lessons and filling in the blanks for you while then mixes in a little Stranger in a Strange Land with a Hansel and Gretel type malice that darkens the atmosphere rather quickly.
The thing that really, really sells a lot of the grandeur and explorative curiosity that this audience member developed right from the jump, scene 1 was the amazing sound design. Sounds play such a pivotal role in how this film operates within the confines of close-ups and very narrow depths of field. Pinning you in and making you feel all we are meant to feel as both the captors and captive of this movie might. Another great device used to near perfection here is the duality of the situation. The beauty contrast of light and day on the farm, the moments of celebratory exhales to the pure down to business tactile gruffness, and the sympathy vs the empathy emotional pulls. All of it dances and weaves throughout this story so well and constantly refreshes the moments that you are just about to be too weirded out or too simply exhausted.
The acting of the two leads especially, Sam played by Kevin Janssens and Kirke played by Laura Silina have such incredible, radiant chemistry. Their arcs are equally compelling and their subtle approaches that spark all the tension really again have a sort of ballet intricacy that sells the fairy tale idea tenfold. There are a little too many hit you over the head hard moments and as someone who doesn't like voiceover or narration in movies, this works as strength more than a weakness but it does have moments where I think a look or one of many interweaving dualities could have expressed what I needed through action and emotion much better. I still applaud the choice though because it sells the narrative in a manner that makes it unique and interesting for nothing else but to mess with you as a viewer a little bit.
WHY CHAMPION THIS MOVIE: It's bold, its daring, and its very well crafted all around. It does have some tropes that will wreak familiar and I think anyone who loves fairy telling that is not only dark but subverts the convention will really get into this story fast. It doesn't waste your time, even in the slower pacing that dominates the 2nd act, it serves more as a refreshing catch of your breath than a brooding slog. Plus a lot of the magic of the performances really shine through in Act 2. This is a kind of movie that doesn't get made by studios but feels like a studio film in its approach to the sound design, look, and aesthetic that has that modern day looks like a million bucks but was shot for 50,000 feel. It will mess with you but if you stay with and let it sink in after, you will come to find the universal themes and interesting thought provoking commentary that a movie like this sneaks in there almost subconsciously. That alone might be enough for you to really like this movie more than you think you did immediately after.
The thing that really, really sells a lot of the grandeur and explorative curiosity that this audience member developed right from the jump, scene 1 was the amazing sound design. Sounds play such a pivotal role in how this film operates within the confines of close-ups and very narrow depths of field. Pinning you in and making you feel all we are meant to feel as both the captors and captive of this movie might. Another great device used to near perfection here is the duality of the situation. The beauty contrast of light and day on the farm, the moments of celebratory exhales to the pure down to business tactile gruffness, and the sympathy vs the empathy emotional pulls. All of it dances and weaves throughout this story so well and constantly refreshes the moments that you are just about to be too weirded out or too simply exhausted.
The acting of the two leads especially, Sam played by Kevin Janssens and Kirke played by Laura Silina have such incredible, radiant chemistry. Their arcs are equally compelling and their subtle approaches that spark all the tension really again have a sort of ballet intricacy that sells the fairy tale idea tenfold. There are a little too many hit you over the head hard moments and as someone who doesn't like voiceover or narration in movies, this works as strength more than a weakness but it does have moments where I think a look or one of many interweaving dualities could have expressed what I needed through action and emotion much better. I still applaud the choice though because it sells the narrative in a manner that makes it unique and interesting for nothing else but to mess with you as a viewer a little bit.
WHY CHAMPION THIS MOVIE: It's bold, its daring, and its very well crafted all around. It does have some tropes that will wreak familiar and I think anyone who loves fairy telling that is not only dark but subverts the convention will really get into this story fast. It doesn't waste your time, even in the slower pacing that dominates the 2nd act, it serves more as a refreshing catch of your breath than a brooding slog. Plus a lot of the magic of the performances really shine through in Act 2. This is a kind of movie that doesn't get made by studios but feels like a studio film in its approach to the sound design, look, and aesthetic that has that modern day looks like a million bucks but was shot for 50,000 feel. It will mess with you but if you stay with and let it sink in after, you will come to find the universal themes and interesting thought provoking commentary that a movie like this sneaks in there almost subconsciously. That alone might be enough for you to really like this movie more than you think you did immediately after.
YOU CAN CATCH THIS MOVIE HERE
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