Ink: Hagrid? Is That You?

Ink is by all accounts an extremely moving and deep little piece of low budget film making. It's one of those movies that makes me want to cry within the first few minutes- a feeling that doesn't entirely leave until about 20 minutes after turning it off. What this movie accomplishes and how it does it is beyond me and I'm still astounded thinking about it now.

Ink centers around a strangely angry type of man named John. We know bits and pieces about his life but we don't quite know what makes him scream "FUCK!!!" like he has a serious case of tourettes. John's daughter is soon kidnapped while dreaming, by a large Hagrid like creature named Ink and taken to a different world. John's daughter Emma is in a coma in the real world and being dragged along by a chain in the dream world- to where Ink will use her in order to become an Incubi-nightmarish type beings with creepy screen faces and headlight eyes. The storytellers the good people in the dream world are trying to stop Ink by getting John to realize the giant loss his life would suffer without the presence of Emma.

There are way too many amazing things going on in this film that my head can't process it all. Everything about this film is moving in some way. The beginning when John finally gives in and saves Emma during her pretend Monster scenario made me feel like crying- because you just know it was a sort of struggle for him to do that, and although you aren't sure why at that point, you are prepared to find out and are immediately invested in John's character.

The Storytellers and The Incubi were also such an original idea that really worked well on the screen. I loved the simple effect of how they appeared and the simple showing of what their purpose was. The dreams we have, the desires we yearn for, and what just simply makes us happy were so obviously portrayed- and then the opposite side- the cold dark fears we all have were also shown and told very well.

What really makes this film remarkable however are the seemingly endless possibilities of what it means. The tackling of the question of who we are and who we used to be are so evident and really powerful. John's character has issues- we know this because of his weird tourette's swearing problem. But what we don't know is how those issues come to affect him in his life and how they will continue to affect everything he does. In a way we choose who we become- but that choice is also undermined by all these outside forces. It's a very VERY provocative film and I'm not doing a great job of explaining it but you just have to see it.

It may not be a horror movie per say but it did affect me in a very complex way. I believe it's currently available on Netflix streaming so check it out for yourself. The music is also pretty incredible and really made everything 30 times more powerful and sadder, the soundtrack is on also on Itunes.

Ink is just one of those movies that forces you to think about your own life- our past present and future- and while it is at times utterly depressing- it is also not over yet.