In some stories, the world is exactly as it seems. The rules, physics and details are all adhered to and the story evolves under a set of standard expectations. In others, what we think we know turns out to be false and the rules of the world are turned upside down in the name of examining just what makes perception reality. Matthew Warren‘s Delicate Arch is a story that challenges the nature of reality itself. It’s a story of boundaries and liminal spaces. Of finding yourself in the in-between. It’s a fun film that keeps the viewer and the characters guessing, while cleverly upending the rules that define both the story and the world of the characters.
The story takes place in a near-future that is suffering some pretty regular and intense effects of climate change. It revolves around a group of friends escaping Salt Lake City and heading into the desert for the weekend to avoid the latest inversion that seems to be tied to the incoming weather. A dusty haze fills the sky as they leave town, seeking something a little cleaner, a little more breathable, and a little more fun for just a few days.
The character dynamics at play are interesting. Grant (William Leon) and Wilda (Kelley Mack) are recently broken up, but claim to be cool. But that doesn't stop Grant from showing up at Wilda’s apartment early to record her having a friendly hangout with Cody (Kevin Bohleber) before they are supposed to meet up for the trip. So as much as everyone insists that everything is fine, they are lying to themselves as much as they are lying to each other. The Truth is flexible. And then there’s Ferg (Rene Leech), Wilda’s cousin and the happy-go-lucky stoner of the group. Ferg has no hidden agenda, but they do have an unwavering curiosity and willingness to acknowledge the strange. So in a way, they are uniquely qualified to point out some of the disparities in reality that present themselves to the group throughout the story.
Not too long into the trip, Grant begins to lose time. He will space out in the passenger seat and then suddenly look around and find that the group is sitting in a diner, finishing a meal. Though definitely weird, it also feels a bit innocuous and is easy to brush off in the moment. But it points to something bigger at play. As the weekend progresses, that something becomes more and more apparent, as the universe begins to shift. The boundaries of time and space are quite literally being pushed and are in a constant state of motion. The world that our group understands to be permanent is anything but. New truths, unrealities, stories they have told - everything folds in on itself to reveal something new and exceedingly strange. In escaping one inversion, they have encountered another. The impossible is now not only possible, but present. Undeniable.
I am always entertained when a storyteller tries to bend the rules and alter the reality that they are playing in. The idea of characters realizing that they are part of a story is one that pops up from time to time, and every storyteller tries to put a different spin on it. Here, Warren uses technology as part of that spin. Grant is lugging his grandfather’s old camcorder around with him. As a film student, he is always on the lookout for an interesting setting or idea that could make a compelling movie. The camcorder, the characters’ phones, and the larger conversation about movie making all come into play in this story and the way it plays with its own reality. We see changes to the story structure, the visual style, and some of the more technical visual language all come together to alter and rewrite the world in an interesting way. Interesting to us, anyway. We are watching comfortably from our own reality. From the characters’ perspectives, what is happening is downright terrifying.
I really have to applaud Warren for taking big swings. It’s easy to pull the rug out from under a film’s characters with an otherworldly outside entity or a perception-altering drug scene (and this film utilizes both). But where it really reaches (and largely succeeds) is with the more subtle moments. The smaller details that the audience might not notice the first time around. The big swings don’t always land, but their presence is enough to make the film feel confident, and that counts for a lot.
This is a fun film with a lot of big ideas. The cast really sells it. The wonder, the fear and the straight up WTF moments all work. The moments that don’t quite land are still impressive, in that they serve to make the story all the more rich. It’s not always the successes that make a film exciting, but the moments where the filmmaker tries something unexpected.
Movie Score: 3.5/5
Emily von Seele hails from Seattle, where it rains a lot, which gives her plenty of excuses to stay inside and watch movies. She has written for Bloody Disgusting, Daily Dead, the Women in Horror Annual and Grim Magazine, and is co-host of the Dead Ringers podcast. You can usually catch Emily on Twitter (@horrorellablog), where she has been known to gab excessively about movies and tweet adorable pics of her two cats - seriously, they are the cutest ever.
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