By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Anthony Scott Burns
Starring: Carlee Ryski | Christopher Heatherington | Julia Sarah Stone | Landon Liboiron | Tedra Rogers
Country: canada
Year: 2021
Running time: 105
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7026488/reference
Bob says: “Sarah is a high school student who’s been avoiding her family. The reason isn’t specified, but it feels safe to assume there’s been abuse going on. She only goes home when she knows the house is empty, so she’s been sleeping outside, on a playground. Obviously, she’s not getting a lot of rest, and it doesn’t help that she’s been having nightmares. What we see of her dreams involve the camera tracking forward slowly through a space that’s increasingly dark and dirty. It initially reminded me of the sequence at the beginning of ERASERHEAD, when we first encounter the Man in the Planet. The difference here is that Sarah’s dreams involve moving through spaces that often involve bodies hanging at the edges of the screen as the POV passes between them. And then there’s the figure we see at the end of the camera’s journey.
“And speaking of body horror, Sarah has a ‘Romero Phys Ed’ sweatshirt. And I don’t think the film she and her friend Zoe (and the stalking nerd) see is by George himself, but it looks to be more or less his style.
“Anyway, Sarah notices a poster for a sleep study, which seems like the perfect opportunity to get some sleep in a safe place. Yeah, it’s not really that.
“I thought maybe there was something to the similarity of a window at Zoe’s house to one at the university building where the sleep study takes place, but I think I was mostly grasping at straws there. However, the rather unexpected end of this rather creative, stylish little film does kind of leave most of the film open to interpretation, so feel free to grasp at any straws that strike your fancy.”