by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden
In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s Falling Stars, directed by Gabriel Bienczycki and Richard Karpala and courtesy of the Calgary Underground Film Festival.
Synopsis
On the first night of harvest in the American West, three brothers — Adam (Rene Leech), Sal (Andrew Gabriel), and Mike (Shaun Duke Jr.) — set out for the desert to see a witch's corpse.
The Good
Joseph: The ambience of Falling Stars is fantastic. It’s the type of film that casts a spell on viewers and holds them mesmerized throughout its running time. Codirectors Bienczycki and Karpala — Karpala also wrote the screenplay — have crafted a world with a captivating mythos, and placed a family consisting of interesting characters at the center of danger. We truly get invested in their outcomes, thanks in great deal to the top-notch performances of Duke Jr., Gabriel, and Leech. The supporting players are also excellent, including Greg Poppa as the brothers’ friend Rob, who claims to have buried the body of a witch; Diane Worman, who steals a scene when she delivers a chilling monologue as the siblings’ mother; and J. Aaron Boykin as paranormal radio show host Barry and Samantha Turret as his assistant Elana. Gabriel Bienczycki’s cinematography is superb, perfectly capturing the eerie beauty of the desert settings, and Patrik Herman’s score fits the proceedings wonderfully.
Mike: The acting takes center stage here as the majority of the movie is three brothers and a friend doing a lot of talking. Each one brings their character the life, giving them each their own equal bits of bravado and insecurity about what they’re about to do - and what they’ve done once they’ve done it.
The world building of Falling Stars is a bit slow and plays out over the first couple of acts, but by the time things head into the final leg the viewer will have a good handle on what kind of world these folks live in (psst… witches are real!). There’s no pandering info dumps and a lot of the information is subtle.
With all of the story taking place over the course of one night the scenery doesn’t get a chance to play too much into the story, although the use of limited light is used perfectly, with shadows and darkness adding to the mounting fear.
The Bad
Joseph: Not so much bad as simply confusing, I found it a bit perplexing that radio host Barry was so dismissive of a phone call from one of the brothers, considering that (1) it seems like the topic would be of great interest to listeners, and (2) it seems a bit odd that the host of a paranormal radio show would be skeptical of something to do with the harvest, which seems like a factual occurrence in the world of the story.
Mike: The only real problem I have with Falling Stars is that there are two characters who had nothing to add to the story except as time fillers. They SEEM important at the beginning and then again later to kick off the third act, but inevitably it’s barely more than a slight info dump worth of detail they provide - something that could have been by other characters.
The Verdict
Joseph: Bienczycki and Karpala have fashioned a horror feature filled with tension and eldritch moments without using gory set pieces or jump scares. The beautifully directed, shot, scored, and acted Falling Stars is truly haunting, and has made my list of absolute best fright-fare films of the year so far.
Mike: Beinczycki and Karpala deliver a winner of a film with Falling Stars. With a fully realized world in which witches are real and cause a real threat - especially around “harvest” in October - we’re treated with a horrible situation that seems to have only one possible outcome. Promises are made and kept without any lengthy teasing insofar as whether or not we’ll actually see a witch (it’s no spoiler to say that we do) and it’s all done in a way that slowly ratchets up the dread. There’s a couple of characters that cause things to screech to a halt which ruins a bit of the mounting tension, but it’s not really a big enough deal to take any of the enjoyment out of the film.
If you’re looking for a truly creepy movie that doesn’t really on cheap scares, give Falling Stars a look.
Falling Stars
Directed By: Gabriel Bienczycki, Richard Karpala
Written By: Richard Karpala
Starring: Piotr Adamczyk, Orianna Milne, Samantha Turret
Run Time: 1h 20m
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2023
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