
From pagan re-enactors to failed communes, black metal festivals to Arctic hermits, and the forever Golden Hour to the Northern Lights, 'A Spell to Ward off the Darkness' is an inquiry into the possibilities of a spiritual existence within an increasingly secular Western culture. A participatory ethnography in the best possible sense, A SPELL choreographs the actions of non-actors within existing Scandinavian landscapes in an effort to arrive at a hybrid document of the past,... (Full plot summary below)
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From pagan re-enactors to failed communes, black metal festivals to Arctic hermits, and the forever Golden Hour to the Northern Lights, 'A Spell to Ward off the Darkness' is an inquiry into the possibilities of a spiritual existence within an increasingly secular Western culture. A participatory ethnography in the best possible sense, A SPELL choreographs the actions of non-actors within existing Scandinavian landscapes in an effort to arrive at a hybrid document of the past, present, and future; it is a record of experience that proposes belief in transcendence as a viable outcome of living in the now.
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| Cinema ScopeMichael SicinskiA Spell finds their styles melding in the most fascinating ways. There has been a more reserved attitude in many of Rivers' films, a desire to hang back with patient curiosity, which is distinct from Russell's more agitated approach. |
| Little White LiesJordan CronkForgoes such linearity in favour of an increasingly visceral triptych narrative that follows a mysterious loner from the margins of a commune to a trip into the wilderness. |
| GuardianPeter BradshawIt is arresting in many ways and concerned to elucidate the experience of being on one's own. Is any other state possible? |
| Empire MagazinePatrick PetersAs a rumination on existence, this never gets as deep or as insightful as it wants to. |
| Time OutCath ClarkeFor some this will feel like an arthouse endurance test, but it's shot with real beauty. |
| Total FilmEmma JohnstonIt's a film of contrasts - community and solitude, silence and primal noise, darkness and light - beautifully shot, wilfully slow and enjoyably baffling. |
| Movie MezzanineJake ColeThe pleasures of its imagery make the task of solving the film secondary |
| OregonianJamie S. RichThe interpretation is less important than the trip. |
| User ReviewRichard IReally? A 'documentary' that itself requires explaining? Have we become that self indulgent? (Ans: yes) |