Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: DON’T SAY ITS NAME [Fantasia Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
The intention of spirit revenge is harked in folklore but comes down to real beliefs in balance for wrongs. The aspect of "Don't Say Its Name" reflected from a tribal view in an interesting balance and perspective and shows the push and pull between the aspects of the old world and the challenges of the new. The story follows a series of suspicious supernatural murders after a hit and run of a local native woman on a snowy forest road. The film takes the approach of unbalance as its balance point with the local law enforcement trying to maintain a sense of authority without discounting greater possibilities, even as the lead investigator has her white supervisor breathing down her neck. The heroine of the story is Stacey (played by Sera-Lys McArthur) who is a bad ass girl with a military background and penchant against authority. While there are some PTSD aspects that play into it, her anti-heroine approach works nicely against Madison Walsh's Betty as the investigator. Ultimately the texture comes down to family but also the aspect of the lesser evil in the greater viewpoint. The effects work undeniably well, especially one specific instance on a low light dusk road as well as one hunting sequence. McArthur's acting process is actually the only thing that feels slightly off-kilter against Walsh and Julian Black Antelope who plays Carson who seemingly have more acting chops but McArthur tries diligently and delivers for the most part as the movie hangs on her shoulders. It is an interesting twist to see a genre film from this First Nations perspective and the aspects of Alberta (where the film was shot) give credence to the effectiveness of the surroundings (though some wider drone shots would have given a greater scope). "Don't Say Its Name" is a horror film that says something and has purpose though plot holes as far as mythology of what the spirit is or what it comes from is left partially vague although its meaning is clear. B-
By Tim Wassberg
