INK review
Jamin Winans' Ink plays out as if it were one of the best kids' TV shows never filmed (if perhaps with a little more violence and profanity than most children's television) - a micro-budget urban fantasy where the director's vaulting ambitions can't exactly hide the lack of funds and the story tends towards the didactic but the sheer invention on display and the general good will make for hugely entertaining viewing.
Apparently no studio would touch the film for distribution, and it's not difficult to see why - with a cast of unknowns, a low budget and a relatively complex mythos (much of which goes conspicuously unexplained), any one of these would be enough to send most producers into hysterics.
Winans' ideas aren't hugely original, but they summarise neatly. He gives us two rival factions, both of whom influence people's dreams - the Storytellers, who deal in all the good stuff, and the Incubi, who bring us nightmares.
One night in an ordinary suburban neighbourhood, a creature known only as Ink (who's friends with neither side) kidnaps a little girl named Emma, leaving her physical body lying in a coma while he takes her shadow-self away. While Emma's father struggles to accept responsibility for the care of his daughter - he lost custody of the girl after his wife died - the Storytellers trying to rescue Emma realise Ink's ulterior motive is far more significant than they originally thought.
The narrative jumps back and forth from Ink and his prize to the Storytellers on his trail, both plot threads getting steadily more hectic until they dovetail - there is a reason for this, one some viewers will not find particularly surprising, but ultimately the film feels well aware of this. Winans sets his reveal up elegantly enough that guessing the twist ahead of time barely matters.
In fact the structure of the film is startlingly good on the whole; Winans wrote, directed and edited and seems largely happy in any of these three roles. The opening is a wonderful primer - yes, it's predictable, yes, it's didactic, but it's snappy, succinct and effectively moving, showing the man understands perfectly well how best to flesh out his characters in a scant few minutes.
There are periods of obvious exposition, but they're refreshingly plausible, far more so than most genre entries ever get. There are life lessons, but they evolve relatively naturally and feel far more appropriate than forced. There are several action sequences, so often the bane of low-budget productions, but Winans handles them with aplomb - the choreography is hardly top-tier but it's pacy, inventive and frequently gripping.
And dismiss the idea any of this constitutes letting the director off easy - the low budget may be obvious but this is real, solid filmmaking talent that easily stands up to major productions with many times the funding. The rapid cutting is never excessive, with the opening scene-setting a gorgeous cascade of memorable imagery, and one set-piece at the half-way mark is nigh on jaw-dropping, the kind of thing most struggling first-time directors wouldn't dream of attempting, let alone pull off this confidently.
The joins are definitely visible, though. Most of the cast do fine work (little Quinn Hunchar as Emma is particularly good) but their lack of experience mean they stumble over some of the clumsier lines or heavier emotional passages. The effects are carefully thought out but still all too obvious and most jarring of all, cinematographer Jeff Pointer shoots far too much of Ink with either the whites blown out and glowing or a distracting out-of-focus blur around the edges of the camera. As smoke and mirrors it's largely unnecessary and it only serves to make the film look even cheaper.
For all that Ink still rates as a success. It helps if you can make allowances, but the director's artistry and skill is plainly obvious regardless - despite its flaws it winds up quietly triumphant, a fantastically inventive, good-hearted little film that captivates from beginning to end. One of the best calling cards of the year (along with the Dacaillon Brothers' Sodium Babies) it deserves to land its cast and crew more work in the very near future and comes highly recommended.
