HEARTWORM
Review by Joe Compton
In this sci-fi drama spanning Reality, Virtual Reality and Memory, Avena, a bereaved mother, battles to rescue her grief-stricken husband from NeuraLife, the virtual technology dominating their world.
Writers/Directors: Miriam Louise Arens, Mitchell Arens
Genre: SciFi
Lanuage: English
Running Time: 1:47
Stars: Amber Gray, Juan Riedinger, Lillias White, and Ellie Raine
One of the things that all great movies have is a little bit of ambiguity mixed in with a lot of stark reality. High concepts are often misrepresented and misinterpreted. Not that interpreting anything should be a badge of honor, because in the end, all art is subjective, that's the great fucking thing about art. However, if you are anything like me, you love movies that toe that line and challenge not just your sensibilities but your emotions, your integrity, and your own personal moral compass, because faced with the situation, Avena and Mark find themselves in you too would be challenged to answer it fully and head on.
This boldness in character study goes beyond the absolutely stunning and beautiful acting from all 3 main principles in Amber Gray (Avena), Juan Riedinger (Mark), and Ellie Raine (Zamira). All 3 are maestros at executing a complex and moral dilemma for the ages. Amber, especially, has these intense, quiet moments of grief, pain, forethought, and inconceivability. This is one of those performances where you aren't sure where the camera starts, and the actor ends. There are these palatable moments of silence and this intense vibration that radiates off the screen, and within Amber's control or appearance of control, there is a complete look at me energy, even when she isn't trying to get you to do that. It's magnificent.
The writing here is equally so, each component carefully handled and constructed to manifest all it can to mess with you and yet engage you to feel all the feels of a real-life tragedy. It's poignant and powerful, careful and quiet, and at times subtle and foreboding.
The movements here and the static nature of camera positions and the strength of widening or narrowing our focus are also masterful in their execution. A lot of great looks wth natural light or streaming light that enhance our focus for what this all means. The camera is the most powerful unreliable narrator, and it plays chess while we feel like we are looking at checkers.
Look, a high concept like this stretches and challenges you in ways you never thought you could be. It is stimulating and feels like a grand triumph when you start to mold the truth or lack thereof, in your mind's eye. Which may be this film's greatest gift.
There is a scene in a support group that will leave you breathless and just blown away. There's also another scene in a different type of support group, involving tears (trying not to spoil it), that will also take your breath away. In fact, the moments that Miriam and Mitchell hit hardest and took my breath away, I honestly lost count.
There is also an impeccable sound design that furthers your own descent into a madness that Heartworm does not apologize for, nor should it. This movie will frustrate some people, and some people will give up, and that's too bad because it really is powerful in its overt messages and even more so in its covert ones.
This is a masterpiece and my favorite film I saw at Cinequest this year, and hopefully it will make its way around so you all can see it too.
The writing here is equally so, each component carefully handled and constructed to manifest all it can to mess with you and yet engage you to feel all the feels of a real-life tragedy. It's poignant and powerful, careful and quiet, and at times subtle and foreboding.
The movements here and the static nature of camera positions and the strength of widening or narrowing our focus are also masterful in their execution. A lot of great looks wth natural light or streaming light that enhance our focus for what this all means. The camera is the most powerful unreliable narrator, and it plays chess while we feel like we are looking at checkers.
Look, a high concept like this stretches and challenges you in ways you never thought you could be. It is stimulating and feels like a grand triumph when you start to mold the truth or lack thereof, in your mind's eye. Which may be this film's greatest gift.
There is a scene in a support group that will leave you breathless and just blown away. There's also another scene in a different type of support group, involving tears (trying not to spoil it), that will also take your breath away. In fact, the moments that Miriam and Mitchell hit hardest and took my breath away, I honestly lost count.
There is also an impeccable sound design that furthers your own descent into a madness that Heartworm does not apologize for, nor should it. This movie will frustrate some people, and some people will give up, and that's too bad because it really is powerful in its overt messages and even more so in its covert ones.
This is a masterpiece and my favorite film I saw at Cinequest this year, and hopefully it will make its way around so you all can see it too.
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