THE FREE FALL
Sara wakes from a coma to a life she doesn’t remember; a fragile, slippery reality that spirals into a nightmare where nothing is as it seems.
Boasting a bloody good opening, Adam Stillwell‘s The Free Fall is brimming with sinister intent. The set is a genre fan’s funhouse. During the title sequence, the camera explores the rooms with sweeping POV shots, placing the viewer on a haunting tour of the space. The house is vast, dark wood from ceiling to floor, art, and jewel-toned furnishings create both a warm and eerie feel. You know this house, and you anticipate evil in its halls.
Shawn Ashmore and Andrea Londo have a chemistry that remains at arm’s length. Londo plays Sarah with an overwhelming sense of anxiety shared openly with the audience. She commands with her innocence. Shawn Ashmore, as Nick, is cocksure and manipulative. There’s something off about his behavior. Ashmore makes you just as uncomfortable as Sarah. His commitment to the arc of Nick’s character is awesome.
Screenwriter Kent Harper‘s use of gaslighting and genre tropes keeps the audience guessing. You’ll need to understand what the hell is happening. There is a dinner party scene that has a cultish overtone. The transitions in this scene, score in particular, change the dynamic of the entire film. From that moment on, theories will wrack your brain. You will not see where this is going. When all is said and done, The Free Fall is a twisty mindfuck.
[Available October 16, 2021, 1:30 – 11:30 PM] Watch now online…
Set in the early ’90s, before Columbine was an event ingrained in history, a child’s innocence was not as easily spoiled as the kids in Super Dark Times. As someone who grew up at the same time as the main characters, I can attest to the typical dangers that surrounded our childhood. We were affected by the national news when a child was kidnapped, but that was about it. On the first evening of this year’s Fantasia Film Festival, audiences will see a film so brilliantly composed from the colors and textures of the costumes and cinematography to the incredibly disturbing storyline from screenwriters Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski. The power of an act of violence changes a person. Born from that awkward time in our lives comes the idea that fear can control the room, where the older/stronger kids ruled the proverbial schoolyards. Drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes made you popular and badass and oftentimes, intimidating. Super Dark Times taps into those ideals in that very specific time in history, and yet it has a creepy timeless factor once you understand the full plot. With elements of the surreal, you will find yourself asking who is showing us the truth at any given moment. Director Kevin Phillips takes us on a sickening journey, one that’s become all too familiar as the years have rolled by.
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