The Blazing World

‘The Blazing World' is Avant-Garde Horror Fantasy on Acid

Art school fluff. The premise is interesting enough, but the telling goes nowhere understandable or interesting. More money on plausible narrative and less on fantasy sets and graphics may have made this a viable watch, but with any sanity the writer/star/director will never be able to make a movie again to know for sure.

Carlson Young, the director, writer, and actor of her own movie: OMG, so brilliant, so deep. So artistic. A work of genius! The acting was terrible, the visual homages to those 1970's zoom in shots were done so poorly, and the movie has that irritating attitude to itself that it's approve anything else, which made my viewing experience so painful. While the production design and overall look of the movie was decent, but sadly it was all wasted on nonsense. As I said in my review for Rob Zombie's Halloween II (and I think it's appropriate repeating here), if cancer was pretentious, it'd be ‘The Blazing World'.

The Blazing World, the fantasy thriller from writer/director Carlson Young, opens on the unfortunate drowning of a young girl while her parents and twin sister are distracted. Years later, Margaret, the surviving twin sister, still struggles with the death, the devolving relationship between her parents, and the visions of the mysterious man who appeared to her when her sister drowned. Now, believing her sister may still be alive in a different dimension, Margaret sets out in a journey of self discovery through the darkest corners of her imagination. Part Alice in Wonderland, part Coraline, part Lynchian nightmare, The Blazing World attempts to address trauma through unconventional means. Starring Carlson Young, working on both sides of the camera, the acting is the weakest component of The Blazing World. Young is unconvincing as Margaret, the film's lead, caught in a self destructive pattern while dealing with her parent's violently crumbling marriage and the possibility of her twin sister being alive in an alternate world. Had the film been lead by a more competent actress, it may have been a more salvageable product but as it stands, Young's performance greatly hinders the overall result. Likewise, Udo Kier (Europe's answer to Nicolas Cage) sleepwalks through his line deliveries, mumbling his way to a paycheck. The only two people who seems to be attempting anything approaching decent is Dermot Mulroney and Vinessa Shaw as Margaret's parents. They're the highlights of the film as they bicker and argue their way through scenes together and show surprising depths of loneliness when in scenes with Maragaret separately. The Blazing World is director Carlson Young's full length adaptation of her 13 minute short of the same name that premiered at Sundance in 2018. Sadly, the feature length version is a reminder that some short stories are better left as short stories. The strange riff, or maybe homage, to Alice in Wonderland is caught up in a meandering story that winds up being a bit of an incoherent mess, narratively. Young seems to be modeling the tone of the film after the works of directors like David Lynch and Terry Gilliam, but the cute camera tricks used to convey doubt or disorientation are quickly overused, turning them into more gimmicks than effective tools. Without enough story to stretch the adaptation, the film feels far longer than its 99 minute runtime suggests. Still, for all that, Young has a clear, firm vision of what she wants the film to be, I just don't think her vision matches the subject matter at hand. For a movie that's supposedly addressing untreated grief and mental health issues, the decision to attempt style over substance isn't a great idea; whether this was the trappings of a rookie director attempting to ape the works of established directors or just Young attempting to do her own thing, The Blazing World comes across as a hollow, empty foray into touching on serious issues. Overall, The Blazing World, while noble in its intentions, falls well short of the mark on execution. Subpar acting does the film little favor as some actors struggle to work with the bad writing and some look like it might be their first time on camera. While this isn't a film to be avoided at all costs, it's not a film that should be eagerly sought out: it's a movie to queue up with friends and stiff drinks after all other movie options have been exhausted.

Visually stunning with a great eery score . As far as a directorial debut I think Carlson has an incredible career ahead of herself . 3/5

Films like this are for a select niche group movie-goers. I love these psychological plots. The sound, colors, the art and the metaphoric symbolism were decent in it. The story i had to watch twice though to really grasp. Story is decent but I've seen better. You'll either enjoy it or You'll hate it. Its a select genre.

5 stars for originality , style and atmosphere. Though not quite there, Young has all the makings of a modern horror maestro, a la Peele. This almost felt like it could have been the 5th season of Channel Zero (a good thing). This is a very original script and I cannot wait to see what comes out of her mind in the future.