Every passing year brings new promise of at least a handful of late career Nicolas Cage flicks, a perennial dose of healthy mix cinematic grab bags that walk a respectable line between offbeat gems, genuine earnest fare and paycheque generating smut. Thankfully his latest, Benjamin Brewer's Arcadian, is a terrific film. Slow burn post apocalyptic intrigue infused with father son drama and fearsome creature feature horror template, this is a tale of one man (Cage) trying to survive after a cataclysmic event has rendered the world in pieces. He finds two orphaned infant boys abandoned in the rubble and raises them into teens, where they're played by the excellent Maxwell Jenkins and an unrecognizable Jaeden Martell. Unfortunately the end of the world isn't the only event to contend with, as now it seems demonic monsters roam about preying on people and while you may have heard the term 'unique creature design' thrown around in horror movie roundtable discussions, I can promise you that term doesn't even begin to describe the special effects effects they've used here. Nothing I say could prepare you for how sickeningly scary and outrageously innovative these things are, so I'll say nothing more about them and let you discover them yourself. While the film sets Cage up as the focal point early on, it decidedly segues away from him and becomes the story of these two brothers trying to survive. Cage plays it dead straight dramatic and gives a wonderfully emotional supporting turn while both boys are equally great, especially Jenkins who has real charisma and definite leading man potential. Sadie Soverall also offers an incredible performance as a girl from a neighbouring farm commune who befriends and joins forces with our two protagonists, giving a third act eulogy speech that is so laden with genuine melancholy and earned sadness it will haunt you for sometime after. This is a great film, a subdued blend of sorrowful dramatic storytelling and shocking suspenseful horror with a burned out, unobtrusively shellshocked world and weary, tired yet hopeful characters who inhabit it, all played beautifully by the cast.
Review of Arcadian
