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The explanatory text that opens “The Wanting Mare,” Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s ambitious, epoch-spanning directing debut, informs us that in the city of Whithren, citizens are desperate to escape by booking passage on the once-a-year transport ship that carries wild horses to the wintry promised land of Levithen. These words, a fantasist’s delight, only barely set the table for what’s to come, a visually enthralling but elliptical and withholding quasi post-apocalyptic drama about three generations of Whithren women who carry with them the burdensome memories of “the world before.”
At times, Bateman’s film feels overstuffed and underexplored, an inconclusive rhetorical argument between a director and his lofty intentions. Otherwise, the Baltimore native announces himself as a top-shelf world-builder-on-a-budget, a painter of luscious digital dreamscapes (and hellscapes).
Indeed, Bateman’s effects are the star here, casting such a vivid and immersive spell that they stoke a strong desire to explore Whithren,...
At times, Bateman’s film feels overstuffed and underexplored, an inconclusive rhetorical argument between a director and his lofty intentions. Otherwise, the Baltimore native announces himself as a top-shelf world-builder-on-a-budget, a painter of luscious digital dreamscapes (and hellscapes).
Indeed, Bateman’s effects are the star here, casting such a vivid and immersive spell that they stoke a strong desire to explore Whithren,...
- 2/6/2021
- by Mark Keizer
- Variety Film + TV
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It’s been ages since anyone built a complex sci-fi universe fillled with far-reaching mythology and imaginative threats. “The Wanting Mare” tries to get there by starting with a small dose. Writer-director Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s ambitious debut Seeing as most sci-fi franchises on movies and TV stem from existing IP, “The Wanting Mare” scores points on ingenuity alone as the most intriguing form of world-building in the genre since “The Matrix,” though it begs for a bigger picture. Frustrating and immersive in equal doses, Bateman’s slow-burn drama seems content to show us around, with the occasional conflict as an added bonus.
For that reason, some may shrug it off as a half-baked bore. In truth, “The Wanting Mare” begs for deeper readings, and the most fascinating aspect of the movie comes from the way this visibly low-budget enterprise gets away with suggesting so much more than it puts onscreen.
For that reason, some may shrug it off as a half-baked bore. In truth, “The Wanting Mare” begs for deeper readings, and the most fascinating aspect of the movie comes from the way this visibly low-budget enterprise gets away with suggesting so much more than it puts onscreen.
- 2/5/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
![Shane Carruth](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzU5MTYwNTg5NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMzkxNTUz._V1_QL75_UY140_CR7,0,140,140_.jpg)
![Shane Carruth](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzU5MTYwNTg5NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMzkxNTUz._V1_QL75_UY140_CR7,0,140,140_.jpg)
In Shane Carruth’s 2004 debut feature Primer, two colleagues go down a physics rabbit hole to build a time machine. In the early stages of masterminding this scientifically-driven and disorienting experience, one character suggests to the other that the best mathematician is the lazy one—that those who excel usually find ways to solve problems quickly, easily and efficiently. The theory might also apply to watching Carruth’s own movies, which don’t tether themselves to linear, coherent narratives. It’s tempting to get bogged down in the details and timelines of his feverish approach, but far more enjoyable—and yes, easier—to let his imagery and ideas overwhelm you, to process them later in reflection or on repeat viewings.
Despite his current hiatus from directing and impending retirement from the artform, Carruth has returned to champion a young filmmaker and a movie that might best be consumed under the same set of recommendations.
Despite his current hiatus from directing and impending retirement from the artform, Carruth has returned to champion a young filmmaker and a movie that might best be consumed under the same set of recommendations.
- 5/24/2020
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
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![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMmNmMDRiM2UtMzA4OS00ZDE2LThhZmItZTRkMjlmZjQ5OGNlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
It was only a few months ago we learned that Primer and Upstream Color director Shane Carruth would be retiring from filmmaking after his next directorial effort, and while we don’t know what that project may be yet, he’s still working on other films. One project that certainly has a Carruthian touch is The Wanting Mare, a dark fantasy fable he executive produced that is set to make its world premiere at the Chattanooga Film Festival this weekend, which is being presented digitally.
Directed by Nicholas Ashe Bateman, who is making his feature debut but has worked on the visual effects of Wendy and the forthcoming The Green Knight, the story follows a line of women who pass a single dream through multiple generations. Having remarkably been shot almost entirely in a storage unit in New Jersey (!), the first trailer shows off some deeply impressive atmosphere for what was certainly a shoestring budget.
Directed by Nicholas Ashe Bateman, who is making his feature debut but has worked on the visual effects of Wendy and the forthcoming The Green Knight, the story follows a line of women who pass a single dream through multiple generations. Having remarkably been shot almost entirely in a storage unit in New Jersey (!), the first trailer shows off some deeply impressive atmosphere for what was certainly a shoestring budget.
- 5/19/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
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