Ink (2009)
Country: USA
Production Company: Double Edge Films
Producer: Kiowa K Winans
Executive Producers: Jamin Winans, Kiowa K Winans
Director: Jamin Winans
Screenplay: Jamin Winans
Cinematographer: Jeff Pointer
Editor: Jamin Winans
Music: Jamin Winans
Production Designer/Costume Designer: Kiowa K Winans
Special Make-up Effects: Alison Chilen, Tom Debrecini (Ink Design)
Sound Design: Kiowa K Winans
Fight Co-ordinator: Brian Taylor
Stunt Co-ordinator: Jim Milligan
Locations: Denver, Morrison, Lakewood, Arvada, Brighton, Commerce City, Thornton, Aurora, Evergreen, and Crested Butte, Colorado
Length: 102 mins
Budget: $250,000 [estimated]
Cast: Chris Kelly (John), Quinn Hunchar (Emma), Jessica Duffy (Liev), Jennifer Batter (Allel), Jeremy Make (Jacob), Eme Ikwuakor (Gabe), Shelby Malone (Sarah), Shannan Steele (Shelly), Steve Sealy (Ron), Steven Brown (The Collector), Shauna Earp (Sadie, the Bride), Marty Lindsey (The Key Master Incubus), Jeffrey Richardson (The Prince), Troy Garner (John's Incubus), Maiz Lucero (The Brave Incubus), Jason Coviello (Roger), Megan Heffernan (Naomi), Scott Ward (Todd), Brad Newman (Chad), Kent Randell (Carl), Steve Wilkins (Dan), Kathy Cagney (Kathy) LeighAnn Gould (ER Nurse), David Alan Hays (Judge), Tyler Giallanza (Young John), Jenna Hawkins (John's Mother), Greg C Vanbuskirk (Scott Hamilton).
Synopsis: Two opposing forces appear as the world sleeps: the Storytellers provide pleasant dreams while the Incubi deliver nightmares. The Storytellers are forced to defend a child, Emma against Ink, a misshapen creature determined to trade her soul for a place among the Incubi. As Emma's self-absorbed, estranged father waits by her bed-side, the Storytellers, led by a blind Pathfinder named Jacob, attempt to defeat her captors. Meanwhile one of their number, Liev, is captured by Ink, shackled to Emma and dragged along on his nightmare journey.
Review: Denver-based husband and wife team Jamin and Kiowa Winans are a fiercely independent unit, preferring the freedom of the final cut over the lure of Hollywood. Jamin started making films at the age of 10, but dropped out of LA film school after one year and returned to Colorado to form Double Edge Films, where he met law graduate Kiowa when she was hired to produce the short film Spin (2005).
Three years in the making, their second feature Ink (following 2005's 11:59) displays a visual acumen way beyond its meagre budget and the kind of imagination that Terry Gilliam and Guillermo de Toro - not to mention those who love their work - would admire. Taking place in overlapping, parallel worlds, incorporating flashbacks and alternate realities, those looking for a linear narrative will likely be frustrated, particularly in the first 20 minutes, but lovers of grown-up fairy tales like Time Bandits (1981), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), and Bernard Rose's Paperhouse (1988) will be rewarded by a beautifully made fantasy with a hefty emotional punch.
The film was shot on a Sony HDV V1U video camera and the digital sheen is initially distracting, but the eye soon adjusts, carried along by some excellent acting from Chris Kelly as John, the haunted junk bond-trader father driven by an impoverished past and by Quinn Hunchar as his appealing daughter, as well as outstanding production design by Kiowa Winans (the Bride's lair looks every but like JF Sebastian's apartment in Blade Runner), and the Gilliam-inspired design of the Incubi, their faces viewed through glass screens that distort their features and give them a menacingly omniscient air. Ink himself is a shambling giant of rags and tatters, his monstrous visage hiding his true nature (make-up designer Tom Debrecini recently completed a book on his craft) and his cracked voice - sounding like Liam Neeson at his most desperate - exhuding guilt and failure.
Quinn Hunchar as Emma, prisoner of the haunted monster, Ink.
Set-pieces too are handled with great flair, with excellent fight choreography, aided by Winans' choppy but effective editing, giving a suitably Matrix-like feel to proceedings - broken objects reconstitute, leaving no clue to the visitor's battles in a typically simple but well executed effect. One astonishing sequence sees Jacob the Pathfinder orchestrate a domino chain of events that changes the course of John's life, eventually enabling him to find redemption at his daughter's hospital bed-side. It's also worth noting the score - again by Jamin Winans - which underpins the emotion of the final scenes perfectly.
Ink was illegally uploaded to Bit Torrent sites hours after its DVD/Blu-ray release but the Winans' embraced the piracy, happy for their film to reach a wide audience and thanked viewers for over 400,000 downloads. If you're one of those who downloaded for free, pop on over to their Web site and donate a couple of bucks or buy a T-Shirt and a DVD so these folks can keep on working, we need this talent to thrive.
For those who haven't seen it, the film was released on November 10th and is available from Double Edge Films for $18.99 (DVD) and $22.99 (Blu-ray); or for $14.99 from iTunes; and for rent or as an Instant Download from Netflix. The soundtrack is available on iTunes.
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