p e n g u i n d e v i l

Ah yes, the fine line between what is and what could be and who we make ourselves and who we could be. These themes are pretty blatantly covered in a fun little movie I watched last night, Ink. There, the line between waking reality and sleeping dreams is certainly blurred over and over again as we follow Emma and John through their troubles and an assortment of folks who are invisible to the waking word guiding them through some crazy events.

Though it certainly isn’t in the same league as any of these, it is at times reminiscent of Night Watch, Dark City and The Matrix and it gave me occasional flashbacks to playing Myst. I didn’t think of it a copy of those though, as it seemed pretty original. Ink is the story of conflict between those who bring dreams and those who bring nightmares, played out via a strange big-nosed being named Ink who is desperate to belong, a little girl that he has abducted as a means of doing so, those who are trying to return her to the real world and a father who has lost his way. Sort of Sci-Fi and sort of fantasy, Ink is certainly a very low budget movie, which shows with the acting, the sets and the grainy “very digital” quality, but it has a fairly interesting storyline and plot and the special effects are pretty well done.





Though it begins with a boring segment of this bitter father who is too serious and disconnected to pay any attention to his daughter, after night falls things pick up. A group of folks with an unusual and interesting entrance go around to the sleeping people and give them pleasant dreams, after that appear some interesting looking fellows who give people nightmares…





Then comes Ink. He is a mysterious being who abducts the little girl, against strenuous objections from the dream bringer people. While Ink tends to remain somewhat mysterious and concealed, her protectors do not. Consisting of the cute girl who was watching over her when she was abducted, an irritating “Pathfinder” with electrical tape over his eyes (well, maybe not all of the effects are good) and a couple of others, they relentlessly pursue Ink as he carts the girl into his intriguing hallway and all over the place.





While the movie was entertaining enough, I really thought it was the special effects that held my attention as they were not overdone and they fit the movie quite well. Though, honestly, the reason for this might mainly be that the effects involve light and the parts of the movie that those scenes take place in are shot in very high contrast, which serves to blur the line between the efect and the rest of the film. Regardless, I still thought that they were interesting, original and looked good.





Certainly not for everyone, but Ink is a great example of how, if you have some good ideas, you can make an interesting film with decent effects on a very low budget.