Acorn is the latest film from David Axe (Bae Wolf, Lection), something that he wrote, directed, produced, shot, edited and mixed. It uses the concept of a film within a film, essentially telling two stories around the same theme in a clever way. I watched this early on a Sunday morning, I was quite hungover, and once end credits rolled I promptly feel asleep for three hours. I'm hoping those factors don't effect this review as I have a feeling its going to be a bit difficult to write due to the strange (but cool) way the film was set out.
Chloe (Morgan Shaley Renew - Bae Wolf) is a low budget film director who learns she has inoperable brain cancer and only six months to live. She decides as her last act she wants to make one last movie, and pitches an idea for a fantasy western titled 'Die Standing Up', a story that is to mirror her real life struggles and acceptance of death. Along the way she has to deal with a variety of issues, from troublesome actors, to studio interference and unfinished sets.
This opened in a strange enough way that I briefly wondered if I had been given a boot-leg version of the movie to watch for review. It shows the film within a film from the perspective of David Axe (I believe) in a theatre, so the screen showing the film is badly framed and only taken up about two thirds of the actual picture. Despite this, I was getting into the fantasy western that was playing on that screen, so was unprepared for Acorn to cut away from that around ten minutes in and reveal what the actual film was about. This was one of those times when I was glad I hadn't read the synopsis as I had fully expected the film within a film to be the actual piece. I know Axe as a director often uses a fantasy setting to tell his stories, whether it is the post apocalyptic Lection or the mythical setting of Bae Wolf. Due to that, a fantasy western wasn't something unexpected from him, and shares the DNA of a vaguely low budget look. Acorn itself is much more grounded and realistic, with Morgan doing a fantastic job in the lead role. Even here things aren't quite as they seem as not long into the first act the film again cuts away to show that Chloe herself is being filmed, with it seeming that someone is making a documentary about her last six months (David Axe).
As grounded as this part of the film was, there were some suggestive supernatural elements to the story, with Chloe having seen visions of a strange looking tree, which she is then shocked to find exists in reality close to the set where her film is to be made. This tree plays some important roles both 'on' and 'off' camera.
As grounded as this part of the film was, there were some suggestive supernatural elements to the story, with Chloe having seen visions of a strange looking tree, which she is then shocked to find exists in reality close to the set where her film is to be made. This tree plays some important roles both 'on' and 'off' camera.
'Die Standing Up' is an integral part of the whole experience, after the start of the movie, the creation of this becomes the focal point of Chloe's story. We get to see scenes taken out of context, but are able to piece together the story for this. In this story, a lone wanderer (Mandy Applegate who also plays the actor character of Starr) is injured while trying to hunt down a monster terrorising a town. She learns that the toxins from the monster's attack has no antidote, and that she doesn't have left to live. Having heard rumours of a cursed tree that has the ability to perform miracles, she sets out to find it, but encounters the jealous guardians of the tree who are prepared to die defending it. As an analogy for Chloe's battle against cancer the similarities are obvious to see. I enjoyed this film almost as much as the core story, both share a great soundtrack (soundtrack highlight was a really creepy messed up version of 'Dream A Little Dream of Me'). In a somewhat odd twist, Chloe's story ends around half an hour before the end of this nearly two hour film. The final thirty minutes are an abridged version of the film within a film, complete with their own ending credits. I did enjoy both parts of Acorn as a whole, but was slightly jarring to have the main story finish so long before the actual end. I get why it was set out that way though as that created a type of meta-experience of watching the 'real' part of the film along with the director of it.
I've managed to write this review without really talking about the film in a competent way. I thought the duel storylines playing out worked really well together. I found Chloe to be a sympathetic character with the topic of terminal cancer handled well, and I also liked the more generic lone wanderer character found in 'Die Standing Up'. With a superb soundtrack and some interesting editing decisions, and slightly fourth wall breaking moments, I thought Acorn was the best film of Axe's that I have yet seen, something special.
SCORE:
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