Alright, I watched A Wounded Fawn through and it was...trippy. It has that 16 mm film quality, synth sounds in the background, and a lot of really striking imagery. The plot is about a woman making her first getaway trip with a new BF, and there's more to him than meets the eye but also more to their cabin getaway location.
I think it's better the less you know, because the imagery is amazing at times. The soundtrack and sounds overall are pretty great at enhancing the scene. It also borrows some inspiration from Greek myths in the form of symbolic hallucination or dream sequences. It's all pretty dramatic and stylistic, but I think it works thanks to the execution. My problem is that it feels like two different movies.
There's a first half that is REALLY GOOD. I thoroughly enjoyed the bits of discovery, awkwardness turning to tension, and spooky build-up. There's also a "is this a supernatural horror or a ppl against ppl one?" feeling to it. The whole thing is fun as a build-up to a pretty big crescendo. There's a lot of "what's real and what's not?" but in a good way.
The second half is just plain weird. It's mostly a bizarre, trippy mix of POV experiences where it all feels like a dream sequence. There's definitely a ton of symbolism to pick apart, and there are some REALLY memorable images. But none of it makes much sense, so it ends up realying on horror by disorientation. I assume close watchers could come up with deeper explanations for it all, because everything feels purposeful. But it's inaccessible and confusing, especially on that first watch...to the extent that I don't think I'll rewatch. Though, I might jump back in just to watch the first half because it was so much better.
Anyway, I think it's worth a watch for the visuals alone. The style and sounds are really cool, and it really has some striking shots. I want to see everything else the director did thanks to that. But the movie collapses on itself in the second half, so be prepared to be a bit annoyed.
Here's a trailer: I think it gives away too much, but even just watching the first twenty seconds will give you a feel for the style and tone.
....
Fukkery overload
