WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First the Recap:
Seek and ye shall find. Or so it’s been said. Do we find ourselves adrift in a world where those things we wish to locate and take unto ourselves become elusive shadows we only think we can attain, when in reality, they’re phantoms not meant to be contained, owned, or controlled. Still, we persist in striving to gain access to friends, even family, or any other collective we feel a need to be a part of in order to find contentment in knowing we’re unique yet bound together by so many corporately shared memories and experiences. For this game of hide and seek amongst four friends, though, the Seeker gets tastes of multiple defeats as all those he’s after mysteriously disappear. Yet, all of them end up within a new game where objects become their focus, and the Seeker’s role suddenly becomes something much more than when they began.
Next, my Mind:
Animated film takes one wildly trippy journey into the abstract world of four friends who initiate a simple game of hide and seek that turns into a surrealistic, off-kilter, wholly bohemian, artistically original, strangely uncomplicated, yet equally deep adventure into the concept of memories that are both exclusively their own but likewise manage to come together into one cohesive thought through this 13-minute profoundly experimental short from co-directors Megan Jedrysiak and Jackson Ammenheuser, screened at the 2nd Annual 2019 Berlin Illambra Experimental Film Festival housed at Salon AM Moritzplatz and hosted by Illambra. Now, to say this critic was just a tad bewildered and mystified by this short would be an understatement, and just being frank, it’s certainly difficult to picture your average moviegoer remotely staying put even despite the abbreviated runtime.
Now, let’s be clearer–that is NOT a statement about the film being poor or lacking substance or creative inventiveness, because beyond the narrative’s somewhat obscured meanings, which I must admit I didn’t quite “get” to the fullest extent, there’s no denying the absolute resonance watching a piece of art unfold before your eyes. The animation here was quite simplistic (not that I could come up with it, mind you!), but it somehow adds to the film’s avant-garde appeal as the story proceeds and delves into the more underlying thematic turns it takes. There’s a lot of vibrant color, which was actually a breath of fresh air to see after many of the festival’s efforts being shot in the starkness of black and white. Plus, the characters here, regardless of the intent to illustrate their collective conundrum during the game they’re engaged in, are actually quite delightfully silly and pleasant to follow, with no real dialogue ever present minus brief enigmatic statements that repeat throughout the film.
It might all be a more purposeful endeavor in expressively offering a look into the notion that we as human beings tend to be just like the Seeker, sometimes having to chase and find those we’ve “lost”, only to be so self-assured that when we fail to find them, it becomes a flustering disappointment. But, in the seeking being done, we could also end up as this Seeker did–on a path of self-introspection, unique to us, yet actually being shared in some form with the others, as also happened in this narrative, finding that when it all finally comes back together, there’s a commonality everyone can relate to and carry within them that feeds the whole but likewise enriches each individual in some form. Once again, not trying go overly philosophical, but it’s honestly difficult not to be a little offbeat when ascertaining the intent with films like this, and it’s all so open to interpretation beyond the baseline significance.
Experiences birth memory that we save and save again, store and re-store, recall, go away from, and recall again in newly updated versions, all of which we can choose to share or just allow to accumulate in the cache of our being, and maybe this is the idea Jedrysiak and Ammenheuser were aiming for? However you choose to interpret this animated slice of eccentricity, and in total, “Cache Cache” will baffle, entertain, and ideally cause us to truly sit back and assess exactly how the film’s message will impact our own thinking and interactions with the world and those around us. Or, we’ll simply take it all and store it away for future use. Whichever way it goes, this was one far-out exercise in indie film.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
