Spirit Riser
Art: the film Spirit Riser
Experienced: on Blu-ray, bought from Vinegar Syndrome’s website
Spirit Riser, directed by Dylan Mars Greenberg, tells the story of two sisters who are separated by an explosion caused by a figure known as "the man from the dark and lonely place". One of them loses her memory while the other frantically serves for her sister, both being hounded by malevolent forces trying to destroy them. This brief description makes the film sound significantly more normal and less insane than it actually is.
This film feels like a David Lynch film wearing the skin of a schlocky homemade B-movie... or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, wrap all that up in a parade of music videos from a bunch of outsider video artists with ADHD, and you'll start to get a picture of what this film is. But, really, it needs to be seen to be believed. This film is truly special.
I'd been waiting a while to see this film, as I follow Dylan Mars Greenberg on Instagram, so when I saw the Blu-ray on Vinegar Syndrome, I knew I had to get it. No amount of Greenberg's Instagram reels could have prepared me for just how bizarre this film was. It is unconventional in every sense of the word. No principle of filmmaking is spared from the wild machinations of the filmmakers. The film doesn't let up for a second, hitting you with bizarre moment after bizarre moment. New strange characters pop in and out of the film so fast it'll make your head spin. It really feels like they crammed a whole TV series worth of plot into a tight 99 minute runtime. Like if Twin Peaks was shot on digital video, vomited on with glitter, wrapped up in a punk leather jacket, given a snort of coke, and crushed with a hydraulic press into less than two hours.
This film is surprisingly devoid of explicitly adult subject matter. Don't get me wrong, I would never dream of showing this film to a small child, but other than swearing, there really wasn't much that a parent would find actively objectionable in here. I suppose, in that sense, it lives up to the tagline on the Blu-ray slipcover that refers to it as a "fairytale". There's a reason one of the two protagonists is only 11 years old; this story feels like it is tapping into the hyperactive imagination of a child and the naive desire to cover the walls in crayon scribbles, albeit filtered through the lens of an adult who's seen too much homemade shlock-busters and video art.
Truly, I came out of this film feeling invigorated. If The Special People reminded me how easy it is to create impactful art--even in a medium as supposedly expensive as film--Spirit Riser reminded me of the kind of films I actually want to make with that ease of access. Sure, Spirit Riser definitely feels like it has a bigger budget and scope than The Special People--though, to be fair, that is an incredibly low bar--but Spirit Riser embodies the chaotic energy, experimental ethos, and epic storytelling I want to embody in my work. It was a film that made me sit up in my chair with a fire in my eyes and the burning thought of "I want to make this film".
It might be an odd comparison--mainly because of how obscure it is--but I've been watching the VOD of the livestream for the experimental online film festival "HallowBeaf" in small doses for the past few days, and I was struck by how similar the vibes and ethos of Spirit Riser was to this small community of weirdo animators. I hope to give my full thoughts about HallowBeaf later once I've seen more of it, but, in short, it was an experimental animation festival hosted online by the artist bentl, an experimental animator best (un)known for works such as Lesbian Dogwood, and the Disaster Life Thereof that features the kind of wacky and heartfelt animated filmmaking that makes my heart sing.
Spirit Riser is a massive dose of hyperactive inspiration that went straight through my skull. It is a reminder that art can be anything. That art is for everyone, no matter how fucked up in the head you are (said with deepest affection towards the filmmakers). That with some grit, determination, and preferably a big community of artist friends, anyone can realize the strange dreams that haunt their minds. Spirit Riser is a toast to the weirdos and freaks of the world in a time where it feels more and more dangerous to be abnormal in anyways. Cheers to Dylan Mars Greenberg and co. May your glorious film inspire countless more gonzo, outsider, indie films... including mine.