God Bless Jami Winans and his filmmaking team.

Their indie effort ‘Ink’, a fantastical mish-mash of children’s bedtime stories, surrealistic imagery and sci-fi action is an honest to goodness sleeper. You won’t see it, or its emotional impact, coming. It’s been some time since a film this low budget achieved so much in regards to what ends up on screen. The world of Ink is like 80’s Spielberg meets Terry Gilliam by way of Neil Gaiman. At the same time, it has originality and heart. Plenty of that last one.  

Most of the film is set in an invisible world that exists underneath our own. While the physical realm sleeps, the ethereal ‘Storytellers’ (who are envisioned as an ethnically diverse group of  grungy punks) roam the night planting happiness, hope, encouragement and solace in the dreams of humanity.

Behind them, sometimes trailing and sometimes stalking are the subversive and malicious Incubi, creepy phantoms who resemble The Strangers from Dark City with one cosmetic difference: they wear deceiving masks that look like black-and-white view screens featuring leering human faces. The Incubi instill doubts, fears, jealousies and night terrors into their victims. They are, more or less, the architects of bad dreams.

Taken on its own, this idea is almost eye-rolling simplistic and dramatically silly. However, Winan has designed a very specific and detailed environment around this supernatural facet of the film. The Storytellers travel in teams, have real and identifiable individuality and behave like your average low-pay courier workers. For the most part, they are a happy lot unless something gunks up the job. When they aren’t dream tinkering, they hang out in a wooded glade that evokes the mythological Elysium. The Incubi, on the other hand, work as a single, malignant unit and if there is one, there are likely to be hundreds more right around the corner. Their world is linked to ours by a dark, ephemeral corridor and the land on the other side looks like ravers took over an abandoned Radio Shack.

One night, a shadowy, cloaked figure sneaks into the bedroom of young Emma and snatches away her soul. His name is Ink, and underneath that cloak there are suggestions he is a deformed wretch; the audience can only see his beak-like nose protruding into the light. The Storytellers try to apprehend him before he can pull Emma from the house. There is a struggle, and he escapes with the girl into a portal.

They fear he will take her to the Incubi, for what purpose no one rightly knows. It is implied that Incubi and Storytellers cannot impact the physical world directly, unless an earthly creature passes into their realm via death or spiritual kidnapping, as in Emma’s case.

At this point, the narrative of the film has been pulling in two directions. Winan follows Emma’s dad, John, a man obsessed with his high-level corporate work and who has been estranged from his daughter since his wife’s death. This real world sequence is glimpsed mostly from his perspective, with the Storytellers hanging out in the background. It could well be the kind of emotionally redemptive tale that films like 2007’s Bella aspire to tell. It works, but it occasionally slows down the more fantastical sections that focus both on The Storytellers trying to motivate John towards Emma and the relationship between Ink, Emma and Liev, the woman who has come to save the little girl from her abductor.

As a visual experience, Ink is truly impressive. While the film isn’t as polished as a multi-million dollar project might be on the fx, set design and acting fronts, that doesn’t matter so much because Winan is a very talented and  resourceful director. The shots have been intelligently and thoughtfully staged throughout, and the soundtrack, an immersive ambient score that reminded me of the work of Clint Mansell is seamlessly grafted onto the film’s emotional identity. The acting is occasionally amateurish, but all performers manage to capture the spirit and struggles of their characters. In particular, the trio of Ink, Liev and Emma has a well-rounded dynamic and they walk the tightrope between playing symbolic ideas and real, flawed people. Ink, in particular, hides more under his menacing visage than is originally guessed.

In the end, I came away most surprised by the way the film works as an adventure. There are opportunities for the three parallel stories to derail, and the action sequences to underwhelm, not to mention the film getting mired in its own layered view of spiritual warfare and existential redemption. But, instead, the story actually unifies these pieces and we are left with a film that stimulates the senses, challenges the imagination and satisfies on an emotional as well as sensory level.

When the Storytellers and the Incubi have a massive Matrix-style cat and mouse battle within the shadow-drenched corridors of a real world hospital, while John wanders about looking for his daughter, unaware of the war around him, Winan captures one of the most kinetic and intriguing portraits of good vs. evil that I’ve recently seen. Ink, created outside of the studio system with passion and dedication, is the kind of movie we often crave but rarely find: a good story well told. And it has plenty of worthy subtext to boot. It’s a fantasy lover’s dream.

Ink is now available on DVD and Bluray.

Next week on ‘The Overlooked’ it’s vikings vs. aliens with the science fiction throwback, Outlander, starring Jim Caviezel, Ron Perlman and John Hurt. Check out the trailer here:

Utter the words Indiana Jones and immediately everybody knows what you’re talking about.  You’re talking about fast-paced, globe-trotting quests for long-lost artifacts, ancient deathtraps and amazing action sequences.  But most importantly, you’re talking about a cinematic icon who has become a household name for any film buff.  From the fedora hat to the bullwhip, Indiana Jones the character is one whom almost everybody loves.

This year, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released after a 19 year-long wait, and the results were for the most part a mixed bag for everyone.  Of course there were those (myself included) who continued to be thrilled and fascinated by everything, however there were also those who were disappointed by it.  All I have to say to those people is were you watching the same movie I was?  Because the “Indy 4″ I’ve now seen a total of five times retains everything that made the original three so great, making for yet another solid entry in the franchise.  Yes, i agree that sometimes it does stretch the boundaries of logic even by Indy standards (i.e. the whole refrigerator scene and a piece of the jungle sequence), but overall it’s a very fun ride that returns us to the world of a hero missing from the big screen for too long.

Without going into great detail about the plot, the fourth film involves a hunt for an ancient artifact that may contain clues to extraterrestrials.  Yes, aliens actually made an appearance in an Indy movie, although they’re commonly referred to as ‘interdimensional beings’ in the movie.  Along for the ride is Indy’s long-lost son, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a double-crossing friend (Ray Winstone), and old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).  This time, the Russians are the bad guys and they’re led by the cold Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett).  Everyone’s after the Crystal Skull, which has a mystery surrounding it that has to do ith the mythical Lost City of Gold.

This 2-Disc Limited  Edition is loaded with behind-the-scenes features that detail every step of the filmmaking process.  Along with the film itself on the first disc are two short featurettes:  “The Return Of A Legend” and “Pre-Production”.  “Pre-Production”, of course, gives a brief glimpse into how Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and the others went about developing the idea for “Kingdom” and “Return Of A Legend” pretty much does the same thing, only it focuses more on the collaborative team behind Indy talking about how the dream of a fourth Indiana Jones movie finally became a reality.  The second disc includes more behind-the-scenes goodness, with a detailed 12-part look at the creation of the film.  With this multi-part documentary as well as the one featured on the “Iron Man” Special Edition gives me a renewed faith in the “Making-Of” features for blockbuster DVDs in the future.  Also included are Pre-Visualization Sequences that show exactly how three of the film’s most exciting sequences were conceived, prepped and executed AS WELL AS Galleries, Trailers and a Game Demo for the LEGO Indiana Jones XBOX 360 game.

All in all, this is a must-buy for anyone who enjoyed the film, or any Indy fan period.

Is big brother really watching? The latest team up of Spielberg and his little boy toy, Shia LaBeouf bring us what seems to be a hand full of action and intrigue.

Check out the trailer over at Yahoo in HD or enjoy it below.