Ink (Jamin Winans, 2009): USA

Reviewed by Charles Hedrick. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

The movie Ink was the first and the best movie that I have seen so far at the 2009 Santa Barbara International Film Festival (7 films). What makes “Ink” a good movie is undoubtedly the interesting surreal camera work, the excellent lighting, and the costumes of many characters. However while all of these aspects of “Ink” may have been excellent, the lack of music is the only thing that dulls its luster as a film.

The story of “Ink” centers around the downward spiraling life of John (Chris Kelly), and the adventure of his daughter Emma (Quinn Huncher), who has been kidnapped by a mysterious creature named Ink. However after Emma has been kidnapped it becomes apparent that only her conscious was taken leaving her in a comatose state, but soon after Emma is kidnapped a group of people called “Story Tellers” band together to return Emma to her body, and to prevent Ink from taking Emma to the evil deities called the “Incubi”.

An important thing to enjoy while watching “Ink” is the interesting lighting and camera work. An example of this would be a scene where Ink is taking Emma into another dimension to request help from an Incubus. The thing that makes this scene interesting is the way the cinematographer (Jeff Pointer) presents this scene by using the contrast of black and white. The reason that is so interesting is because of the feeling in the audience it created, this scene was able to fill the entire audience full of apprehension and uneasiness, and the creation of emotions due to a scene is a sign of triumph for any cinematographer. An example of the interesting camera work would be any of the fight scenes. The reason that the camera work was so good was because of the fact that it was hard to tell what was going on, but even though it was hard to tell what was happening, it was still possible to process what was happening, it was almost like watching it happen in a dream. The reason that this camera work is considered good is because it fits the surreal dream like style of “Ink”.

Another factor that makes this movie good is the way Jeff Pointer’s settings worked in harmony with Kiowa K. Winnans’ costumes. An example of this would be the nightmarish world the Incubi live in. The way that the colorless setting amplifies the eeriness of the Incubus is truly amazing. Even when the Incubi were not in their world they were eerie and menacing. It is impressive how Pointer and Winnans’ were able to work together to give the Incubi the menacing presence that was required.

Despite the lack of music that would have really put the finishing touch on this movie, this movie should still be seen as a step in the right direction for fantasy movies, which seem to not be performing up to par recently (Eragon, Harry Potter, etc). I strongly suggest seeing “Ink”.