Review of Spring (2014) by Chris P — 12 Apr 2015

Spring daringly treads the fine line between being charming and cheesy but never slips into the latter due to the witty writing and acting by Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker, as the performance of both help to elevate Spring beyond contemporary and conventional love stories that are nothing but pure fluff that would come apart at the hinges easily. And that is what Spring ultimately is; unconventional and daring. Not exactly a newcomer - with a prominent role in Evil Dead (2013) - Pucci's natural chemistry with Hilker transforms the movie into something else entirely due to the strong foundation to both of their characters that gives way into providing a different, surreal experience.

Fleeing the authorities in America and the horrifying reality of being alone following the deaths of those close to him, Pucci's Evan goes from being an overly attached, almost desperate male character from a tragic background to someone that is able to match his more independent love interest in Hilker's cryptically charming and intelligent Louise. Spring's strength proves to not only be its aesthete, resonating atmospheres of dread and love, but also its solid character development. And how many times has a love story been praised for fleshed out leads?

Being a horror and romance genre mash-up, Spring's theme of duality creeps into every facet of the film, from the juxtaposed bits involving religion and science, to Louise's otherworldly, yet our-worldly characterization. With tact and subtlety, the brilliance of Spring's writing pits almost everything against each other as Evan pines for Louise, two individuals from violently different backgrounds by offsetting its lovelorn elements of the budding - or lack thereof - romance between the young duo with the underlying horror that constantly evades Evan's cone of awareness.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Spring crawls forth from the minds of the team behind the genre-bending Resolution (2012), with writer-director Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead teaming up yet again to deliver a love story with Spring in a tale that is more than meets the eye. Moorhead's cinematography provides some distinctive shots of the dreamlike imagery and the macabre of Italy that successfully accentuates the overall vision of duality that he shares with Benson to give way to a fitting Richard Linklater/H. P. Lovecraft hybrid romance for genre fans.