#Harpoon fest 2021 series#

Our love triangle is a little tired, a lot hungry, and extremely salty. Once all the possible weapons have been expunged from the boat, and it’s established we don’t have enough food or water to survive a boat that won’t start, an appropriate jump is made five days later. So Jonah’s got a hand-wound, Richard’s found out his suspicions were correct, and Sasha weathers the storm of jealousy and infatuation. So what gives? Why would they blow it so quickly? Usually, the rule goes you show “the gun” in the first act and “fire it” in the third act. The titular harpoon - a birthday gift for Richard from his best friend and girlfriend, one whose proper name they argue over - is fired within the first twenty minutes. Wonderful mechanics and setup that gets us ready for what comes next. And without some divine intervention, it’s stated they won’t last longer than a week. Once we’re on the boat and all the pleasantries of betrayal and revenge are out of the way, we know how far the light is at the end of the tunnel: one week. She’s clever and not a pushover.īesides knowing about Jonah’s dead parents, Richard’s violent father, and now deceased pregnant ex-flame whom he cheated on Sasha with, we don’t need to think about anyone else. She’s underappreciated by Richard, her boyfriend, and held on a pedestal by Jonah. That, of course, brings us to the beautiful girlfriend, Sasha. He’s insecure, but keeps that hidden, and takes it out on his best friend Jonah’s face when he suspects Jonah has slept with his girlfriend.ģ. His hot head is inherited from his violent father.

We have the rich jock, Richard, who looks a bit like Gronk and acts with all the aggression and testosterone you would expect from his character. There’s the timid loser, Jonah, for whom the film builds sympathy by killing his parents in a serendipitous tragedy and then pouring salt on the wound by having him robbed by a prostitute pre-coital. There are only three characters to track (eight if you count those spoken about but who remain off-camera).ġ. The structure and pacing of the film are mutually beneficial for the filmmaker and viewer. I will bow to this angle and structure the review as such.

#Harpoon fest 2021 series#

We’re led through this journey by a narrator (Brett Gelman, notable for his comedy roles and as Murray Bauman in the monstrous Netflix series Stranger Things ), who lays down some philosophical knowledge for us in the form of Aristotle’s three types of friendship: utility, pleasure, and good. SPOILERS lie ahead, as this one was too much fun not to fully dissect. Today on Mike Fest… Flanagan Film Review… Mike’s infinite playlist… we continue our exploration of suggestions by filmmaker Mike Flanagan with Harpoon by Writer/Director Rob Grant, who steps out from behind his editorial rig to prove just how crammed with talent the film industry is. In honor of Flanagan’s birthday month (May 20th), we’ll be sharing a film a day for 14 days from his indie watch list and letting you know why we think you should check it out! So, he created a list of 14 of his favorite indie horror gems of recent years that he hopes more people will see and support. He attributes his early success due to great word of mouth for his films and support from genre fans.

While many came to discover and fall in love with Flanagan as a result of his horror work in television, but he began his career in the indie film world, and that’s where his heart still lies. Near the start of quarantine, filmmaker Mike Flanagan made a list for Rotten Tomatoes of his favorite lesser-known indie horror gems he hoped people would check out while they were stuck at home.