[THE INCIDENT
recently screened at the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
Two
brothers are busted by police officer in their apartment. While
trying to flee through the apartment building’s stairway, one of
the brothers is shot in the leg. After a tourniquet is tied around
the wound, the officer tries to escort the two out of the building
and down to the police station. Only problem is, none of the doors
out of the stairwell can be opened and the elevator doesn't work.
More alarming, the stairwell itself seems to be some kind of mobius
strip: descend all the way to the first floor and it keeps going, but
loops back to the top floor. Fortunately there's a perpetually full
vending machine of snacks and water for sustenance, but that won't
help the wounded brother if he doesn't get to a hospital soon.
Elsewhere,
a family is going on holiday. The little girl is asthmatic and
suffers from allergies. While at a gas station, her step-father
unwittingly gives her a drink that causes an allergic reaction. The
mother panics and starts yelling at him, and he drops the girl's
inhaler, which breaks. The girl's brother was supposed to have picked
up her backup inhaler, but forgot in the confusion of leaving. In
fear for her daughter's life, mom insists they drive back home.
Easier said than done, though, as the road keeps taking them back to
where they've already been. There's plenty of food and drink at the
gas station, but nothing that can help the little girl.
These
two seemingly unconnected though similar storylines make up THE
INCIDENT, the debut feature of
Mexican writer/director Isaac Ezban. On first glance, it might seem
like the premise for a “Twilight Zone” episode, but the paperback
novel by Phillip K. Dick one of the characters has in his bag is a
better clue to the film's concerns. Like Dick, Ezban is interested in
the nature of reality, and how what seems like the real world may in
fact be nothing more than an illusion designed to hide the truth.
As a
director, Ezban does an excellent job of keeping his audience
invested and wondering what the hell is going on right up to the end.
It's the ending, however, that will likely prove problematic for
some. It's not that Ezban doesn't play fair, or that his resolution
is too vague or confusing. It's just that it feels a bit
anticlimactic. Maybe others minds will be more blown than mine was,
but I just felt like, “that's it?” Overall, though, I still liked
the movie, and was even more impressed by how much Ezban did with so
little. It's certainly worth a look for fans of cerebral sci-fi like
PRIMER or PI.
3 out of 4 stars.
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