In theaters Friday, April 14
reviewed by N. Renee Brown
Basically, you get immersed in a world of visions and sounds, supported by a casual investigation of the theft of tubas from schools in California and framed around a relationship between a woman and her partner and her father.
This creative non-fiction feature is more of an experience and less of a tale. Don’t walk in hoping to find the thieves, that’s not the point. Don’t walk in looking for a plot from A to Z. Walk in expecting blue. Walk in expecting to experience fantastic captions that make you really understand what good captioning is like. Walk in expecting to experience a feeling, and walk away with that feeling settling over you for the rest of the day.
This movie delves into hearing or lack thereof, and how sound impacts all of us in ways we don’t notice — but that we should.
Nyke (Nyke Prince) is stunning as the main character (or as much of one as there is) who really conveys the normalcy of living in a hearing world as a deaf woman. Her father Ancey (Wawa Snipe) is just as powerful in the role of her father. His love for her is clear and the chemistry between them is beautiful. Add to that his experience in this hearing world (that is just now changing for Nyke) and you see why he was clearly the only person who could play Ancey.
This movie is making the rounds in festivals, if you get a chance take a chance on it. I would also STRONGLY suggest asking for audio description, as the director (Alison O’Daniel) took just as much time and care on the audio description as she did on the captions.
In the end: Don’t expect this to be a normal movie, expect a soundscape profoundly translated.
Originally posted on the Geek Girl Riot podcast on idobi.com
