Winter. It makes me envious of animals capable of hibernation. It's cold. No, it's more than that. It's unsettling, unnerving and unrelenting. You look out the window in the morning and the desire to call in sick overwhelms as the world is buried in a sea of white. Can't though. Gotta dig out, and the chill of the air literally hurts your skin. Your breath hangs in front of you just before you ask "When will this shit end?" aloud to yourself. Never, it seems. With every passing minute it feels a bit colder.
Inside it's warm, but it doesn't feel any better. It doesn't get any easier. It still feels cold. It still feels like you are buried and need to dig out, and it hurts. It always hurts. With the weight of the world on your shoulders, you look at yourself in the mirror and ask "When will this shit end?" aloud to yourself. Never, it seems. Time for a change. Time to get away.
Suddenly, one day, there she is. The most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Warm, colorful and alive. Nothing else matters in this moment. You don't feel the pain anymore, at least not when you see her for the very first time. You can't say a word. It all melts away.
Spring. An awakening. A rebirth as you leave it all behind. Nothing seemed possible before but my god, she is so beautiful. Anything is possible.
Anything.
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are two relatively unknown filmmakers but it's time you got to know them. In 2012 they released their feature length debut titled Resolution, a film so clever and layered that it isn't fair to pigeon hole it into a single genre as most would describe it as a horror film, which would then lead to complaints that it wasn't quite horror enough. It's strange and creepy and brilliantly self-aware, but it lacks the gore and overwhelming terror that many will seek. I loved it for exactly what it is.
Spring, their follow up to Resolution, is a completely different animal but you can feel that same wonderfully measured and patient storytelling touch on both. Where as Resolution felt wholly original, an aspect I admired greatly about the picture, Spring feels both original and yet strikingly familiar in a good way as the structure and atmosphere play like a combination of Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater and a scary creature feature film. Sounds strange, I know, but that shouldn't turn you off from giving work like this a chance. Embrace the strange, we need more of it in cinema.
When I first finished watching Spring I knew I enjoyed the film but something felt missing. Just a different vibe compared to the shocking satisfaction that overwhelmed me with Resolution, and perhaps that is due to knowing the talents of Benson and Moorhead this time around. As we all know, raised expectations increase the likelihood of disappointment. I waited a week to write this review though, to let the experience really soak in and see if it resonates in retrospect. It does. Spring has lingered with me over these past seven days in a really welcome way, and I keep replaying the imagery of the final sequence again and again in my mind.
Spring. An awakening. A rebirth if you leave it all behind.
Anything is possible if you believe in the concept of love.
Anything.
4/5
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