Slán Go Fóill

There is a whole lot to unpack here for a film that is centred on tightness, both literally with the 4:3 window into our leads' souls and from the ties that bind, but also through an emotionally driven core of spiritual and physical possession. Impressively deep considering this talented team made 2 films this year.

Playing on a picturesque landscape setup the the mis en scene that not all is as it seems quickly erupts from a steely glazed driver unloading their furious cargo. Intense and believable the struggle for freedom quickly takes a dramatic turn for the metaphysical via UNDER THE SKIN inspiration, though leaning on the windows to otherworldly planes rather than alien motifs to present humanistic elements.

The setup is fucking beautiful, and it's a well rounded film. For mine I'm not sure on the ending but this was a standout. Brilliant performances.

This film grabbed me instantly with some of the most stylized, effectively executed, and inventive cinematography of Christchurch's 2024 offerings.

I continued to be impressed by the sheer ambition of the subject matter, and strong commitment by two impressive leads.
Stilted dialogue leads to a wonderful ambiguity as to whether the leads are humans, or fallen angels, alluding to more powerful forces at work, and giving the whole film a welcome sense of gravitas.

Finally, consistent audio is rare, and well worth praising here.

Overall, a really engaging watch.

What I liked:
A tense and cleverly told exorcism story with some great flourishes and flaire - makes great use of Cathasaigh already existing tattoos, and the image of such an alty person being a priest is actually super enticing.

What I didn't like:
Andrew pre-warned me about this, but yeah, some of the shots are out of focus and some of the framing is off, which isn't the biggest deal in the world, but of the two Emoji films, this one is weirdly the more obvious "we only had two people on the team" movie. Perhaps that's because it's conceptually more ambitious than The Getaway.

Something else I liked:
"You will never possess me" "Oh I already do" - fucking baller line. I think part of me feels like we needed a happy ending, or at least another switcheroo of the power between the two characters, but nonetheless this was a great piece of dialogue that puts a nice little devastating button on the whole film.

Bonus thought:
Is this a combination of 2014's Christchurch winner and runner up? The Ex meets Something New????

Woah!? Man there were some bangers we didn’t see at nationals weren’t there !? This is so well performed. It’s got guts. Never expected a performance like this from Andrew. What possessed him? He’s brilliant! (You’ve always been brilliant Andrew, but the last live action I saw with you in it was ghost shark 2)

I’d love to see all the energy go into one film next time. This had all goods except the production value this performance and writing deserved.