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First, the Recap:
The mechanism of memory. We strive to recollect so much of what we’ve experienced yet at the same time find that which we bring up from our minds enigmatic, initiating the forming of more questions than pleasant evocation. What if we end up discovering that we no longer recognize ourselves within the scope of these remembrances? What if we’ve lost sight of our own inner pain screaming to be set free? What if the patterns of our choices have dictated the anxieties that plague us even as we struggle to understand them, adapt, and regain momentum in life? The mechanism of memory. For Frances (Paula Roberts) and Mrs. Osgood (Caroline McGillion), seeing the past resurrected in their minds brings about a surreal, sometimes terrifying series of images that seem so distant and scattered, yet perhaps strangely, unnervingly familiar. Can they find themselves before losing grip on not only memory, but their very identities?
Next, my Mind:
Time to take another sharp left turn towards the eerily mysterious and hauntingly abstruse mixed with a splash of horror/thriller, dramatically-infused speculation, philosophical introspection, and several “wink-wink, nod-nod”s to a specific poem from Edgar Allan Poe that are reflected in both the title, lead character’s namesakes, and even the final spoken lines during the finale via this 7-minute short from Irish writer/director/producer David Harkin, one of many efforts featured at the 2nd Annual 2019 Berlin Illambra Experimental Film Festival held at Salon AM Moritzplatz and hosted by Illambra. I would be lying if I said I felt remotely confident that I “got” what Harkin was going for here beyond the overall thematic ode to the potency of memory, which has been a common underlying factor in several of the films screened at BIEFF this year.
Even as the film follows two women of polar opposite ages yet, it appears, highly similar demeanors as they navigate the stormy waters of the admittedly startling events which have shaped their recent memories, it becomes a study possibly in just how overwhelming traumatic experience can impact one’s psyche, even to the extent of being drawn to a specific place without knowing the reasons why in order to further ponder what unsettled and/or unresolved fears and uncertainties still reside within. Additionally, is it also the acknowledgement that we sometimes completely lose our entire identity to said inward disturbances and hashing it all out with ourselves seems the only way to ultimately deal with it, confronting the causes or at least addressing the buried emotional turmoil that accompanies it.
Visually the film does a wonderful job at drawing us into this confused and chaotic state of being, the camera following the two women through their wanderings and building unease that is sometimes very evident to other moments where we know it’s present, but quietly lingering beneath supposedly calm exteriors. Pair this with some quickly passing but visceral horror style moments that jar the viewer, and it is undeniably well-executed filmmaking, designed to be the disquieting ride it becomes. Roberts does a fantastic job in portraying Frances, a young woman wholly immersed in the tumult of memories she cannot cease from arising yet is inexorably drawn to that she might figure out their meaning, all while facing what appear to be demons of her own past in some form. It’s understated intensity Roberts pulls off here to great effect, selling us on her character’s unnerved plight throughout the performance.
Likewise, McGillion also takes the more low-key approach with moments of more frantic delivery in her role as Mrs. Osgood, an older woman who’s also seen things she most likely wishes she could now un-see, freakishly vivid pictures trying to constantly plague her waking hours. Haunted and even a bit paranoid with tension and edginess, she, like Frances, seeks to find solace for her troubled mind which may or may not happen. McGillion adds that acting veteran maturity in her performance, executing it with solidly presented grace and purpose. Supporting appearances are made from Alexis Ireland, Gosia Kustosz, and David Harkin, Jr. In total, whether I personally ended up actually accurately ascertaining any of this effort, “To F-” is assuredly indie/experimental cinema at its strange best in that it transcends mere entertainment and offers us as the viewer to ponder our own interpretations of it while ideally appreciating the creative mind and atypical, singular statement as an art form the film endeavors to communicate.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
Thank you for this wonderful review. Brilliantly written.