Chasing Shadows
“Chasing Shadows” is an interesting feature film that offers insight on four friends who go in the mountains to spread ashes of their recently deceased friends. While they’re in the mountains, each one faces these memories that reflect who they are and how they got to be where they are in the moment. What makes this film really interesting is how the death of one friend has them all questioning their own motives. This trip to the mountains is a trip of self-discovery for the four friends.
The thing that sticks out to me the most is the editing. It’s fast-paced, stylish, and really sets up a structure that kind of feels like a poem in a sense. Each character has their own pattern of cuts that really brings out their personality. Each sequence of character self-reflection has a mix of rather interesting close ups that make us feel close and personal with these characters themselves. It’s almost as if we slowly become one with group.
There are a lot of neat shots woven throughout this film regarding nature and the character’s subconscious. Since this is structured like an experimental poem, each scene almost represents a symbol of some sort. What exactly? Who knows. It’s subjective, but I think it works in the film because realistically a friend’s death can certainly bring out these bizarre memories that can only mean so much to the individual themselves.
The music adds an unsettling feeling throughout the whole film. At times it makes the movie feel like a psychological horror or thriller, and when the film’s editing really gets going, it adds to it. Everything gets frantic and at times I can’t help but wonder if the music is supposed to reflect the characters true intentions throughout the piece. It really adds a subjective touch and in a way compliments the poetic structure as well.
There are a lot of moments in this flick that caught me off guard, which should be taken as a compliment, because I never saw what was coming around the corner. Every step the characters take up the mountain was a step in a direction that was unforeseeable. That really helped the impact of the film as I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what could possibly be next.
Overall this film has a really unique style that’s unique and says something more underneath the surface. It’s fun to dig through the characters messes and getting to know them through their own misunderstandings. It’s like putting a puzzle together slowly and trying to take shortcuts; though there are none. Having this revolve around a recently deceased friend was a smart move as it allowed the filmmaker to explore beneath the surface of what makes us human and flawed. The actors and actresses did a decent job at portraying the internal-conflict that each character had within them. They often say that death brings the worst of people out and I would say that rings true, for this film especially.
