Precarious (2020)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2020
	Director: Wes Terray
	Actors: Juliana Frick, Dashiell Hillman, Andrey Pfening
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 29.07.2020, FANTASPOA2020, 14"computer screen.
Synopsis: After being shot with arrows by a mysterious woman, Henry (Pfening) is held by the Police at the Doctor's office from where he then escapes.
Review: I had a good feeling when deciding to watch this movie and was not disappointed. The opening credits put you right in the mood for it: slowly moving camera over pieces of props with the crew's names on it, and the title made out of folded pages of a book, as shown on the photo below this post. Who nowadays makes the effort to design such a sequence? In Precarious, it was the director Wes Terry and his Art director Louise Franco who both did a fantastic job at giving the movie this special 60's atmosphere, sometimes reminding of an episode of The Twilight Zone. I found an interview on Filmink where the director tells you what you need to know about the genesis of the project, and how he could make it happen with just a fixed idea and a reduced crew, albeit it took him seven years to do so. Other members of the crew making the movie what it is are the motivated actors and the composer Ben Eshbach who wrote the melodies which carry the audience along the adventure. You have to love the attention to details in the movie and the perfect framing. Hard to believe the sets were all built in the director's apartment! There are a few moments throughout the movie that give it away however, and hint that it was produced with limited means: the acting at some moments, the cheapness of some set pieces, the lighting and the sound recording. But this is easily forgiven for a first full-length feature, and in comparison with the richness of other aspects. I love that the movie takes its time to reveal the characters and what this is all about, this practice has become far too rare in modern cinema where you are usually thrown into the action by fear that you wold zap to another channel, because who watches full movies in a (home-)cinema nowadays? The way the mystery slowly unravels reminded me of movies by David Lynch, also maybe partly because of the resemblance between the main actor Andrey Pfening and Lynch's favorite Kyle MacLachlan (in Blue Velvet for example). A nice discovery which makes me ever more happy to follow movie Festivals.
Rating: 7 /10