A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness

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A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness Photos

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Movie Info

A spell follows an unnamed character through three seemingly disparate moments in his life: on a small Estonian island, in isolation in the majestic wilderness of Northern Finland and during a concert in Norway.

Genre:

music, documentary
Original Language:

English
Director:

Ben Rivers, Ben Russell
Producer:

Julie Gayet, Indrek Kasela, Nadia Turincev
Release Date (Streaming):

Oct 14, 2016
Runtime:

1h 38m

Cast & Crew

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

Weasel Walter

Ben Rivers
Director

Ben Russell
Director

Ben Rivers
Writer

Ben Russell
Writer

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness

All Critics (19) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (1)

Avant-garde cognoscenti are surely already in line, yet the film is accessible and often hypnotic on an intuitive level.

December 4, 2014 | Full Review…

Ben Kenigsberg
New York Times
The atmosphere is mythic and pervasive. The imagery, of night and nature and dancing flames, seems ripped from liner notes. Even the title sounds like something you might see scrawled across a record sleeve in Gothic typeface.

December 4, 2014 | Rating: B | Full Review…

A.A. Dowd
AV Club
Landscapes and lyric conundrums distinguish the first two-thirds of this find-your-own-meaning artflick, which unfurls like some stranger's life you're half reliving.

December 2, 2014 | Full Review…

Alan Scherstuhl
Village Voice
Robert AA Lowe makes for an enigmatic talisman. But it would require a properly powerful incantation for Spell to translate into magic.

September 12, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Tara Brady
Irish Times
It is arresting in many ways and concerned to elucidate the experience of being on one's own. Is any other state possible?

September 11, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
As a rumination on existence, this never gets as deep or as insightful as it wants to.

September 11, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine
Watching one man's repeated upheavals of his life, combined with the two directors' excellent craftsmanship, evokes the feeling of something supernatural and, ultimately, transcendent.

June 8, 2019 | Rating: 8.2/10 | Full Review…

C.J. Prince
Way Too Indie
Arthouse cinema at is most challenging, pushing ethnographic fetishism and self-reflective analyses to the nadir of its cerebral appeal.

April 3, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Patrick Gamble
CineVue
A Spell finds their styles melding in the most fascinating ways. There has been a more reserved attitude in many of Rivers' films, a desire to hang back with patient curiosity, which is distinct from Russell's more agitated approach.

November 27, 2017 | Full Review…

Michael Sicinski
Cinema Scope
If you find yourself pulled towards those dark corners, and in the mood for a cerebral encounter of the cinematic kind, 'A Spell' delivers on its grand title's promise.

December 9, 2014 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Nikola Grozdanovic
The Playlist
It's a film of contrasts - community and solitude, silence and primal noise, darkness and light - beautifully shot, wilfully slow and enjoyably baffling.

September 8, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Emma Johnston
Total Film
The interpretation is less important than the trip.

April 14, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Jamie S. Rich
Oregonian

View All Critic Reviews (19)

Audience Reviews for A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness

Jun 15, 2015

One star for the heavy metal, if you leave out the singing. This is a good film to go to if you have to get indoors somewhere dry for a while and take a nap during a film that has really long takes of nothing happening, and I mean really long takes. Except for the band members, all of the characters in this including the lead actor are incredibly boring and superficial. The woman spouting the potted philosophy takes the cake for inanity. But ignore everything and have your sleep; that will be the best part.

. . Super Reviewer