The Wayward Sun (2013) Reviews

• A beautiful, stark, and heavy-hitting film

  Captainnn2013-08-30

  I saw the premiere of The Wayward Sun last night in Milwaukee and I, along with the rest of the audience, was blown away. I'm hesitant about writing a review so soon after my first viewing of the film. Not only has the experience not fully sunken in yet, but there's so much imagery, symbolism, and poetry here that it's something that definitely warrants multiple viewings. It's pretty clear that there's still a handful of minor tweaks to be made, and the hour delay due to technical difficulties didn't help either. But good things are worth the wait, my friends. I understand that a few more edits are to be made but even though it wasn't 100% polished, it was still more of a film than many other things I've seen as of late. The film starts off with three friends driving through the Mexican desert. They flip their Jeep, killing one of them, and Wren and Chaz are left to cut through the desert to get to the town of El Perdido, 17 miles away. Stocked up with beer, a hallucinogen known as Genie Powder, and a water supply that far from suffices, the two attempt to navigate their way through one of the most beautiful landscapes ever caught on film in one of the scariest survival situations imaginable. Although some may liken it to Van Sant's "Gerry" (which no doubt there are similarities), the way the story is told and the ideas expressed among our protagonists, hallucinations of Death, and various talking animals/cacti sets it apart from the 2002 film as well as any other film I've seen before. The chemistry between Richards and Bernhoft jumps right off the screen and into the hearts of the audience as we come to care tremendously early on for these two friends and their literal life-or-death plight they've gotten themselves into. Along with acting, Jozef K. Richards, also shows great promise at writing and directing and appears to have no shortage of hats to wear when it comes to filmmaking. The Wayward Sun is a complete 180 from Richard's previous effort, The Amateur Monster Movie, which was about a couple of stoners, a foul mouthed mayor, botanists, and dopey cops who head to an island to hunt for zombies and werewolves. Exercising skill in both the horror/comedy and now drama/psychological thriller genres, Richards and King's Tower Productions are a company to look out for. If you have the chance to see this, it's something you definitely won't regret.

• Hostile desert journey

  Leofwine_draca2018-02-27

  THE WAYWARD SUN is an indie fantasy flick that concerns a physical and metaphysical journey through a hostile desert landscape. The female protagonist is involved in a car accident with a couple of friends and then required to hike through the heat to safety. Along the way, she's assailed by the occasional vision of a dancing girl (laugh-out-loud hilarious) and a demon (a copy from DEATH NOTE by the feel of it). It's not a very remarkable film.