DVD reviews
Immortals
"... a thundering example of style over substance."
Midnight In Paris
“...a delightful tribute to nostalgia and romance.”
The Illusionist
“...a film that generally brings warm smiles rather than belly laughs...”
Treasure Guards
"A willing suspension of disbelief should get most viewers across the line."
search the site
newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter
Esoterica (DVD)
Year: 2010
Rating: MA
Director: Sam Barrett
Cast: James Helm, Melanie Lyons
Release Date: January 19, 2012
Distributor: Accent
The Film: 1.5
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5"...an amateurish effort that is just painful to watch."
It's tough to make a low budget feature, and anyone who manages to do so deserves top marks for effort. Perth-based outfit Nakitomi Pictures have managed to do it twice now, with the 2008 release No Through Road and now Esoterica, both directed by Sam Barrett. Unfortunately, this digitally shot neo-noir pastiche fails to take advantage of the freedoms granted to an indie production to give us something interesting. To put it bluntly, it's terrible.
The muddled plot follows surveillance photographer Will (James Helm) and his ex (Melanie Lyons) as they're drawn into a mystery involving kidnapping, murder and a MacGuffin in the form of a statue by an obscure cult artist. None of it really matters, though - it's just an excuse to string together a series of noir clichés and implausible plot twists.
The characters are unlikeable, which is forgivable, but they're also uninteresting, which isn't, and the stakes never feel particularly high. The budget doesn't stretch to creating the venetian-shaded noir environment that the filmmakers clearly envisioned, and as a result the film looks cheap instead of gritty. In choosing to draw on the iconography of noir rather than the narrative and thematic core of the genre, Barrett has failed to deliver either, and the result is an amateurish effort that is just painful to watch.
