Sator

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🎙️ EPISODE 624: 12.21.22 Sometimes you'll be watching a movie and think, "man, I'm just not getting this." And — if you're like me — the first explanation you'll come up with is: why am I so stupid? God, WTF, dude? Couldn't you have made me just a little bit smarter?? Maybe I'll chalk it up to not paying attention, though, which could easily be the movie's fault. But it's usually some combination of these sentiments; they ain't mutually exclusive. Enter: Sator. A singular vision that's as perplexing as any postmodern novel. And when I say "singular" I mean it. Look at this closing credits card...

There's a third way of course (there always is): that the movie is plain inscrutable and you've done nothing wrong. Perhaps on purpose or perhaps because of ineptitude, or — again — perhaps a combination. Sometimes the fatal flaw is the filmmaker's inability to get their ideas out of their head and onto the screen in a way that makes sense (if indeed it needs to 'make sense'). This is an argument that could go around in circles forever and maybe that's also kind of the point. It's a fine line. Everything is made more difficult by the fact that Sator looks fantastic, seamlessly blending different film stocks, aspect ratios, color grades and camera tech/techniques. Jordan Graham — whose only other feature is another one-man band creation that looks, well, not quite as good — has pulled a rabbit out of his hat here whether or not loved this or hated it. And, either way, this is certainly a personal affair:

June Peterson, who plays Nani in the film, is Graham's grandmother, and her belief in a supernatural being called Sator which watches over her formed the basis of the film's story.

Having a non-actor play such an important role is one thing. Having a non-actor who possibly believes all of this insane shit is another thing all together. It's all just another layer to this dense mystery.

I personally felt that the oblique narrative hindered the film. Only because there are moments here, especially in the flashbacks (although where we are on the linear plain is another thing he fucks with), when it felt like the story was trying to poke through. Was it purposely buried or was there some unintended static in the transmission? This is the question. And that I'm hung up on it ultimately leads me to side more with the former explanation. This feels like a folk horror that's missing a lot of the folklore. We just never quite know what's going on? This makes it easier to assign potential themes (especially in regards to family dynamics and what I thought could be a Relic-esque thread about dementia), but it hampers the enjoyment of actually watching it.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 623 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 625 ⫸

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Sator is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Jordan Graham and starring Michael Daniel, Rachel Johnson, Aurora Lowe, Gabriel Nicholson and June Peterson. It made its debut at Fantasia Film Festival. 1091 Pictures announced that the film would be released digitally and on video on demand on February 9, 2021. It was released on July 21, 2019.