The latest short film from Turnabout Media is a 14 minute sci-fi mystery, which is distinctly odd, but interesting. The one thing which threw me was the film's title, Hyperborian. The word, as far as my knowledge of this word goes, has two meanings. First, it comes from the Ancient Greeks who referred to a mythical race of giants who lived beyond the north winds and called The Hyperboria; whilst second, and in more common modern usage, it means people who live in the far north. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fit either of those definitions to anything this film had to offer.
That being said however, the film is excellently produced and tells the somewhat apocalyptic science fantasy story of two male friends living in California during a time of 'blackout'. We are not told why the sun no longer shines, but it seems that the sun has not been shining and the world living in darkness for an extended period of time.. it is their norm. They need to find medical help for the young woman - it turns out that she is the girlfriend of one and sister to the other - and so call upon an illicit and makeshift one-woman clinic operating from her garage. She agrees to help them in return for them providing her with more batteries, as all her equipment runs off them and she is in short supply. One of the men knows where to find some, his elderly grandmother has a stock; but as they enter her house they find a dead old man on the ground, who, moments later has completely disappeared. I was able to follow the story quite clearly until this point, but then things began to start becoming far more surreal and improbable. [look at the times on the clock on the wall behind them!] The old dead man steals their car keys and drives off, and then in the next shot we see the two young men knocking on the door of a bungalow. A woman opens the door telling them that they are expected. They walk in and see the old dead man sitting on her sofa and as they look through the window it is bright and sunny daylight...!
For those who enjoy horror or ghost films, then maybe this would make more sense to them than it did to me; however, storyline aside, the acting is truthful and sympathetic, and the direction and mise-en-scene professional, clear, and expertly crafted; and despite the vast majority of the film being only partially lit and at night, the clarity and colours were excellent. For me, the film raises too many unanswered questions in such a short running time; perhaps that is the whole point and we are to make of it what we will; but I would have preferred more given information as a grounding at least.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 16/7/20
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