Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: NIGHTMARE [Fantastic Fest 2022 - Austin,Texas]
The context of sleep paralysis and the context of the underlying condition is something that confounds the reality of modern science. The brain is complex but the territory of envisioning other worlds that can optimize certain senses in a real and involved process is something that occurs often in dreams because many people do it. In "Nightmare", director Kjersti Helen Rasmussen uses the science and mythology of this very real condition to integrate the logic of the modern mind with that which cannot be explained. Mona (Eili Harboe) is moving in with her boyfriend and babies are within the mindset. It is about the idea of what is expected and what is real, an element which another festival entry "Heusera" did as well. Here the narrative revolves in a bit of a different circle. The texture of fear and uncertainty is of course a strong theme but also the notion of aggression and claustrophobia within a relationship especially how it relates to the having of children. The aspect of family necessity has changed radically in some ways in the last 200 years but in other ways it has stayed the same.
Even Mona's relationship with Robby, her boyfriend, seems conflicted yet together yet imbalanced all the same. This is why the way her dreams function, although fairly linear as compared to some other dream movies, still has a certain disconnection. The movie paints the building in which this all takes place to be a sort of funnel point but beyond the affliction, it doesn't given a reason why. The film does work its way into the neuroscience but also doesn't want to take it too far or get too technical for fear of losing the audience. While Mona's pursuit and reasoning is absolutely true, the judgment (even in a subtler way) is still there and Robby ,despite his apologetic ways, comes off as severely petulant. While the film builds to a payout that works,its eventual payout actually comes off a little vague in terms of what the reality is and what actually happened. It didn't need to be summarily explained but the film confuses the situation at the end while using set details but no real concept of time to reflect it. Now this might be the notion of dreams intruding on reality but in these final moments a better cypher is needed. B
By Tim Wassberg
