Film Review: Blaze (2022) Dir. Del Kathryn Barton
Blaze © Causeway Films
Written by Belle McIntyre
Here is a harrowing vision inside the head of Blaze (Julia Savage), twelve-year old girl who has witnessed a violent sexual attack ending in death of the victim. A shy introvert, she does not speak of it for quite some time, holding it in, hoping it will disappear. She is, however, plagued by vivid and terrifying nightmares fueled by a barrage of new emotions which have been triggered by seeing a murder. She feels guilt, shame, disgust, and very confusing sexual and violent thoughts.
Blaze © Daniel Boud
When she finally gets the courage to tell her adoring father, Luke, (Simon Baker),
she can barely get the words out and she fares no better when she tries to tell the police. When she has to face Jake (Josh Lawson), the murderer in court she is so bullied by the defense lawyer that she is not believed. The public knowledge and mortification only increases her withdrawal into herself and marks a change in her personality and erratic behaviors which causes much anxiety in her father, who keeps casting about for solutions with no luck. The final straw is when she sees Jake walking around, a free man, that sends her off the rails and into the Kafka-esque psychiatric treatment netherworld.
Blaze © Causeway Films
A highly imaginative adolescent, her ability to process what she has seen is impossible with her undeveloped understanding of the event. Her own imagination, however, is working overtime trying to make sense of it. Her bedroom is an extension of her dreams, presided by over by an enormous, all-knowing, confidant named Zephyr, who shares a space overflowing with dolls, celestial entities, costumes, and wildly original hybrid human/animal creations. Her nightmares, inhabited by many of her own possessions, are rendered using a unique hybrid of VFX, live action, puppetry and animation. They are very trippy.
Blaze © Daniel Boud
Brisk pacing, a well- chosen soundtrack, and excellent ensemble acting, especially that of Julie Savage, make this an attention-holding and visually beautiful film. It is finally about the loss of innocence and leaving childhood and childish things behind. It is a wrenching coming of age.
