Sometimes you get a movie that taps into the surreal (even more than surreal) that you do question its deeper meanings as you end the viewing of it.
One such movie is writer-director Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s THE WANTING MARE, which has been getting its World Premiere at this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival.
Two cities punctuate the narrative, Whithren, a place of heat and Levithen, a place of constant winter. Once a year wild horses are trapped from running along the coast of the former to the latter and the bitter cold. However, once a year, there are tickets available for citizens to travel who have the option to get out.
One such woman is the spirited Moira (Ashleigh Nutt / Jordan Monaghan), who loves performance art, but as a youngster meets a man, Lawrence and she becomes a mother. Amidst all this, the same common dream haunts each subsequent generation of woman, prompting surreal reflection and the desire to perhaps escape or withdraw into their lives…..
Part fantasy, part drama, THE WANTING MARE is a visual stimulant which compensates at times for the human drama that takes its’ time to get going and you do wonder what the emphasis is when it comes to the story it is trying to tell.
The imagery certainly does hypnotise the audience, with broad shots of distant lights and simmering water throughout and people wandering through sparse communal townships, but it is only once you get to the second half of the film that the essence of the human relationships becomes a lot more clearer.
The impression is one of lost opportunities and relationships, though you do wonder what the obsession is going from Whithren to the much more uninhabitable Levithen. There is a subplot of people keen to grab hold of the much-coveted tickets and an occasional element of interpersonal violence that would have added a lot more to the drama of the film.
THE WANTING MARE is certainly a movie that will polarise opinion when people see it and perhaps a further viewing or two will reveal more deeper meanings than one might have garnered from the initial viewing.
The 2020 Chattanooga Film Festival is open to residents of The United States only.
Festival badges can be purchased at:
