This is a bleak little thriller, that, assuming you can go with its rhythms, is going to crush your soul.
The film primary focus is a couple,Oyin and Abbey, who are very much in love. Oyin's father,Ebiye, wants her to leave her boyfriend, she wants to have their child. Her father's hatred know no bounds and he tells authorities that he is the head of the gang responsible for the death of a soldier. They end up on the run on a ship with four other people also fleeing. The problem is that the ship they are on is about to turn into a very deadly place.
One part thriller, one part ecological tale (oil hangs over everything from money to poisoning the environment, and one part political commentary, BLOOD VESSEL has a lot going on. It doesn't always follow through on everything that it is throwing at us, a number of things get lost once the real fight for survival starts, but by that time we are too worried about who is going to remain alive at the credits roll to really care.
The real problem with the film is that that the pacing is, very uneven. Some of this unfolds at a very slow pace. Some scenes go on too long. While I love that director Moses Inwang takes the time to truly develop everyone, it slows the proceedings to a crawl at times. (this probably could have lost some of it's almost two hour long run time.)
That said if you stick it out BLOOD VESSEL turns in to a hellish nightmare as the film walks into horror film territory. No one is safe. Blood flows. It helps that the bad guy is really freaking bad, enjoying skinning people alive (off screen- but don't think you're safe blood flows and ugly things happen.) This is bad times with good people and you may get white knuckles from grasping your chair arms.
I really liked this film.
Is it perfect? No, as I said it's paced oddly and it it is very much an inde film, but it has heart and chills which make it worth a look.
No comments:
Post a Comment