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The Coronating (2023), A Beautiful, Surreal, and Frightening Guilt Trip

The Coronating (2023)

&NewLine;<p>It’s no small feat to make a short film <em>look<&sol;em> good&period; Most young filmmakers simply don’t have the budget or the expertise to make the mechanics of cinematography&comma; lighting&comma; and staging work together to create something really beautiful to look at&period; This is part of the reason I was so taken aback when I began watching Justin Solaiman and Hudson King’s surrealist fantasy short&comma; <em>The Coronating<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar;&period; But once I got past the initial shock of such a visually-captivating short film&comma; I could enjoy a 20-minute story that managed to pack a lot of big ideas into a small&comma; digestible package&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>As a piece of surrealist cinema&comma; <em>The Coronating<&sol;em> is far more concerned with making you feel something than telling a coherent story&period; Nonetheless&comma; there is a plot that makes some sense&comma; to one degree or another&period; Within the first minute&comma; we are given cues through dialogue and intertitles that a ceremony &lpar;some kind of coronation&rpar; is about to begin&period; A knight sits in a quiet room with blue walls&comma; decorated with random objects of interest&semi; bowls of fruit&comma; a burnt-out candle&comma; paintings&comma; ceremonial masks&comma; and a chair in the very center&period; The knight rolls a smooth wooden ball around in her hand&comma; seemingly preoccupied with the upcoming ceremony&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Just before it starts&comma; the knight is visited by a stranger&period; The stranger takes the form of a woman&comma; perhaps a witch or a spirit&comma; who seems to embody the knight’s own feelings of guilt&comma; shame&comma; and trepidation&period; I won’t go into too many details on how the story unfolds&comma; but suffice it to say that the knight has concerns about the new king&comma; and the stranger is hellbent on making her feel even worse about the coronation&period; When the stranger asks about her own relation to the knight&comma; the knight quite aptly describes her as her own &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;misery&period;” <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>As the knight contemplates what she should do — let the ceremony go on unhindered or take a stand — she sees the walls of the room quite literally closing in around her&period; Things only get more bizarre as the minutes tick down&period; In a particularly beautiful sequence&comma; the stranger gazes out the window as light flashes by&comma; her head disappearing for a few moments before reappearing once again&period; She taunts the knight&comma; and to an extent the audience&comma; with a series of vague accusations and gibes&period; But once we learn more about the stranger and her past&comma; she emerges as a somewhat relatable foil to the knight&comma; fraught with her own insecurities and regrets&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The story continues to unfold in cryptic bits and morsels&comma; leading up to the titular coronating of the king&period; The film is full of amazing images and exposition that just begs to be analyzed&period; There are plenty of Biblical allusions&comma; particularly related to the theme of forbidden fruit and demonic forces tempting otherwise good people away from the path of righteousness&period; One could even interpret <em>The Coronating<&sol;em> as a fantastical account of the ascension of the Antichrist&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;07&sol;BcF8oxMc-1024x435&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Coronating short film" class&equals;"wp-image-2731"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption"><em>The Coronating<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Setting aside any Judeo-Christian references &lpar;both real and imagined on my part&rpar;&comma; the film plays around with a lot of interesting philosophical themes&comma; including destiny&comma; truth&comma; subjectivity&comma; and perception&period; Even if you’re not at all interested in the philosophical underpinnings of the narrative&comma; the visuals are enough to keep even the least-attentive viewer on the edge of their seat&period; Some scenes are simply stunning&period; I was particularly impressed by a few fleeting moments&colon; the knight looking out the window at a raging sea&comma; the knight kneeling before a pool of disembodied hands&comma; and&comma; perhaps most of all&comma; the coronating&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There are elements of horror throughout&comma; particularly in the final scene&comma; which make <em>The Coronating<&sol;em> that much more entertaining and enjoyable to dissect&period; But more than anything else&comma; I would be remiss to not celebrate the minds and talent behind this project&period; There are so many indie filmmakers out there&comma; and only a small number are actually producing great works of art&period; Writer&sol;Director Justin Solaiman&comma; along with co-director Hudson King&comma; has produced an original and fascinating short film&comma; which is a great achievement in and of itself&period; To make it even better&comma; Onyx Simpson and Mari Kasuya give excellent performances as the Knight and the Stranger&comma; respectively&period; And a special shoutout needs to be given to the director of photography&comma; Khoi Nguyen&comma; and the production designer&comma; Naomi Smith&comma; who could give a Masterclass on visual composition in film&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In closing&comma; I’d just like to urge anyone with an interest in philosophy&comma; indie filmmaking&comma; philosophy&comma; cinematography&comma; or simply rising talent in the film industry to check out <em>The Coronating<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar;&period; The official screening is set for August 6th&comma; 2023&comma; between 7 and 9 PM at the Tara Theatre in Atlanta&comma; GA&period; You can learn more by visiting <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;thedistortingmirror&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">The Distorting Mirror<&sol;a> website or following the production team on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;instagram&period;com&sol;thedistortingmirror&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Instagram<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size">The Coronating Movie Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;h3>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you can’t make the screening in Atlanta&comma; the film with be available to stream online later in the year&period; For more film reviews like this one&comma; be sure to check out the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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