2024 production dieDirected by Anmol Mishra and shot entirely in Newcastle, Australia, it is a journey of the soul. In fact, a dying heart. Mishra calls his David Lynch-inspired film “psychological horror.”
Maybe that’s true, but we have to admire the recklessness of any filmmaker who manages to combine Abbott and Costello, or more accurately, Cheech and Chong, into “Why the Chicken Crossed the Road” ,” Gag.
Right in the middle of the movie.
Now I love Australian horror movies; from gory and dark comics somebody to Love To a dreamy picnic on Hanging Rock, I love the horror movies Down Under. I am delighted to receive this gift from the land of wild dogs and the ever dangerous outback.
is intimate
die is an intimate production consisting of four actors:
Marigold Pazar is Sabrina.
David Hersimovich plays Romeo.
Lauren Johnson is Wendy.
Oliver James Damien plays Mazza. *The one with the cigar.
story
Sabrina is killing herself. The film seems to be both memory, bardo moment and insight. The timeline makes no sense and the dying seem to know everything about things they were not present for.
die Follow this spiritual journey with a strangely disjointed timeline and almost psychedelic imagery. The story itself sometimes borders on the realm of exclusion, with its legs firmly planted in the art house style of delivery.
*Warning: There is some full-frontal female nudity, simulated sex acts, and sexual innuendos throughout. And drug use. With the exception of the sexual acts, all of the above are minimally introduced.
It works, sort of like
die It does take multiple viewings to understand the whole thing. Among them were quite a few memorable moments: Wearing Wendy’s Halloween mask. Massa and Wendy walk down that dark road, and of course there’s that wonderful “chicken” joke. To name just two/three.
*I must admit, after watching this almost deconstructive take on the classic chicken crossing the street joke, I fell in love with the filmmaker’s work. This scene really built the movie for me.
honor
All the performers manage to bring something to the metaphorical table here. Special thanks to Damian for his junkie character. He pretty much steals the entire movie.
Mishal wrote, directed and edited this foray into death, suicide and the esoteric moments between this world and the next. Anmol does all this using what I call a “Robert Rodriguez” approach to filmmaking.
very good.
These guys made a movie with an estimated budget of $35,000. That alone makes it worth watching. Low budget/no budget movies are not easy to make. And the production cost of 35K is negligible with a capital S.
judgment
I give die 3.5 stars out of 5. But the views are almost enough to pull it all together to follow the story as it unfolds.
To be fair, it gets full stars for the originality of Wendy and Mazza’s scenes. Follow this filmmaker with a visionary and unique take on the world and its antics.
*Oleg Somov scored the film.
trailer
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