Directed By Flying Lotus

Starring – Eiza Gonzalez, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais

The Plot – Riya (Gonzalez) wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed. Her investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events.

Rated R for bloody violence, gore and adult language.

ASH – Official Trailer | HD | RLJE Films

POSITIVES

Similar to 2022’s “Skinamarink” serving as an unorthodox concept reliant upon a sensorial-heavy engagement, so too is “Ash”, with Flying Lotus taking his biggest directorial step forward with a hypnotically entrancing presentation that I couldn’t get enough of. This is a perfectly seamless execution between sight and sound that not only helps to conjure this ominously dreadful atmosphere that continuously hangs overhead among its minimalist cast of characters, but also an alluring style so breathtakingly permeant that it really adds to the otherworldly setting of its concept. This is especially the case for the neon nightscapes in lighting that radiate a glowing luminescence to the visuals, with its red emulating danger, and its green sparking mystique and ominousness in the foggy details of just what transpired aboard this vessel before our investment to the narrative moved into focus. In addition to the lighting, the artificial backdrops created with C.G are surprisingly effective in adding a tangibility to the scenery that our characters are acknowledging, with an equally integral consistency to special effects in the creature designs of these aliens that really makes for a grotesquely gruesome climax that finally pays off our preconceived speculation. In terms of sound, Flying Lotus imbeds an immersive psychological impulse that speaks levels to the blunt force trauma that Riya has suffered, with echoed whooshing and meticulous sound editing that abruptly halts character dialogue at the most spontaneous of moments, but not necessarily any kind of interaction that takes away from the answers of these aforementioned mysteries. The man certainly has evolved as a natural director since his directorial debut with “VHS 99”, but everybody knows if Lotus is involved, it has to feature a spine-tingling score, and the musical visionary is happy to oblige with my single favorite series of compositions that he has ever orchestrated. While urgency and vulnerability certainly help to drive the dramatic intensity of what’s taking shape, it’s the instrumentals full of impulsive organs and scintillating synth that sensually seduced my ear drums, and in a movie where the details of the plot and storytelling are a bit mum, the opportunities to envelope myself in the diversity of these tracks evoked the overwhelming tragedy and danger that plagued these crew members, and I for one personally can’t wait to buy it when it becomes available to stream. Beyond Flying Lotus’ irreplaceable presence on this feature, the performances also do a service towards breaking Gonzalez and Paul of any preconceived typecasting in the roles that they have been selected for, with each of them emitting emotional versatility, despite the lack of opportunity presented from a script lacking characterization. Gonzalez is definitely the scene-stealer here, portraying vulnerability and helplessness while in the peril of her character’s own amnesia, and while it’s certainly not a turn that I would even put in the same ballpark as Sigourney Weaver’s iconic debut as Ripley, in “Alien”, Eiza calls upon the same expressive merits in seeing and experiencing what the audience aren’t entirely privy towards, and the physical duress taking shape inside of her body and foggy memory constantly elicits itself with the deer in the headlights responses to erratically paced editing that directly overwhelms her character’s incoherence. Paul is kept slightly little closer to the chest than the freedom that Gonzalez wields, but I loved the darkness and imposing stature that came with some of the secrets to his own character design, allowing Aaron to play himself closer to the chest, but with a psychological advantage over Riya that constantly keeps him in control of the pacing of their investigation. Lastly, I’ll choose to stay silent on most of the pivotal details towards the aliens of this landing spot, but I will say that I loved the decision to make them feel like a parasite of sorts to the bodies that they come into contact with, especially in the ways they utilize their prey towards expunging information about their backstories to use against them. This makes the gimmick of Riya trying to figure out what took shape before her blackout all the more puzzling, as the remembered devastating actions of the crew are all the more difficult to discern who is acting impulsively versus who is being controlled that way, and between it and the science of some pretty cool technology used in the film, there’s a very futuristic appeal to the setting that thankfully goes undefined, making it feel like it could fit anywhere in the near or far future of a desecrated Earth spending its last breaths.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, I found myself more conflicted with “Ash” than I truly wanted, due to the perils of a mostly unrewarding script and ambiguity within its plot device that made it difficult to attach myself to these characters. On the foggy memory of Riya, I wish it become a part of the script after some thorough interaction between her and the characters on-board, as with the exception of one brief sequence showing them around a dinner table, I learned absolutely nothing about their emotions or importance to the mission, and that level of ambiguity is difficult to feel compelled by, especially when we the audience are asked to remain patient until the final twenty minutes of the film, where all will be revealed. The climax is undoubtedly the best scene of the entire movie, but the long distance journey involving arduous pacing and fake-out red herrings takes every chance it can to wipe out any semblance of momentum to these proceedings, and the result ends up being a 90-minute air tight run time without any of the urgency or progression of a feature length narrative that has so much information to convey in such a short time. On top of this, the thrills or even frights are disappointingly limited throughout the proceedings, as Lotus opts for these series of intrusive edits resulting in jump scares that never came close to even making me squirm in my seat. To be fair, I’m a bit of a tough sell when it comes to telegraphed jump scares, but considering Lotus conjures such a thickness of dread to this palpably registered atmosphere, it’s unfortunate that he settles too often for desperation that shows his conventionalism to a majority of other horror films of the contemporary age, feeling overused and repetitious as quickly as the film’s half hour mark. There’s also disappointment among the performances, as “The Raid’s” own Iko Uwais is cast as the captain of this ship, and then never given any substance emotionally, or physicality especially to justify why you would cast a fight choreographer of his talents and capabilities to a role this thankless. This is where more time with the initial ensemble really would’ve helped towards garnering a necessity for their inclusion, as Iko and the other four members are essentially just body counts for the plot, and while the film does contain with it some physicality for action that I will detail in just a second, the decision to ground Uwais’ in a design of normalcy makes the casting all the more difficult to understand, especially in trying not to see him as the devastating force that he should be on this or any other ship that he chooses to step onto. As for that aforementioned action, the movie does start to provide some answers throughout the end of its second and beginning of its third act, but they’re presented in these POV perspective shots from Riya’s vantage point that makes it difficult to distinguish just what is taking shape while we’re watching them. If these erratic visuals aren’t enough during these confrontations, the trigger-happy editing starts to bring back the Post Traumatic Stress of the Borne franchise, with seizure-inducing movements of the lens and abrasive cuts that were painful to my ocular senses, all the while voiding the movie of any kind of even temporary clarity to the events of the night in question, which could’ve been enough to tie us over until the climax if presented with unobstructed clarity from an outside vantage point.

OVERALL
“Ash” breeds uniqueness as a sensorially spiked engagement that offers stimulatingly entrancing style and creature designs that might’ve reinvented the subgenre of science-fiction thrillers if not for the paralysis of its own preconceived framing device that nearly obliterates it. Unfortunately, for the things this film does right, there’s nearly just as much plaguing its potential towards its thrill-seeking audience, mainly the lack of answers or progression to its mystery of a framing device, and the result is one of the more conflicting engagements in recent memory that will unfortunately be remembered for quite sometime.

My Grade: 6.2 or C-