Spring (2014)

Genre

Horror | Romance | Fantasy

Director

Justin Benson | Aaron Moorhead

Country

USA

Cast

Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Grazia Daddario, Vanessa Bednar, Shane Brady, Francesco Carnelutti, Holly Hawkins, Chris Palko, Vinny Curran, Jeremy Gardner, Nick Nevern, Jonathan Silvestri

Storyline

Young Californian Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci) flees the US to Italy, where he sparks up a romance with Louise (Nadia Hilker) a woman harboring a dark, primordial secret.

Opinion

Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise meets a Lovecraftian tale in this romantic, unique, horror flick from filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.

Slow paced but definitely not boring, Spring is a dramatic, engaging, intriguing, different film that greatly combines horror, comedy, romance, and a trip to bellissima Italia. 

Spring is my favourite season, because it is the time of change, rebirth, blossoming, and the directing tandem of Benson and Moorhead does a wonderful job exploring and digging into those meanings.

The writing by Justin Benson is impressive. While the contents are not new, they are handled in a different way, and that is what makes the film interesting, and appealing. The so so dialogue becomes marvelously fascinating when the two leads are introduced to each other. And the character development between Evan and Louise is great. Also, the characters feel very real for this genre. 

Polignano a Mare, the Italian coastal town, is the perfect setting, the beautiful cinematography by Moorhead is enriched with some great aerial drone shots, and the effects are great too.

The leads are remarkable and the chemistry between them is great. Very convincing as Evan, Lou Taylor Pucci gives a charming, and sweet performance. Nadia Hilker is excellent as Louise, and it's basically impossible not to fall in love with her. Nick Nevern and Jonathan Silvestri deserve a mention because they well play their characters and they deliver some laughs. 

Quotes

Louise: Tell me more about the finite.
Evan: Let's see, uh... When you're sick, it makes you feel lucky for all the times when you were healthy. Uh, sunrises and sunsets... some things are just beautiful no matter what, and a constant reminder that you only get so many. So you better fucking enjoy 'em. Some pizza and a bottle of wine with the right person that can make the shittiest day better. Coffee dates take up a pretty good chunk of your time, but... but they're worth it. I don't know, you can choose to work yourself to death, but you could also throw all that work away without regrets for the right person. Maybe that's chemical, but it's also magic. Uh, love comes around a couple of time, if you're lucky. Life probably seems short no matter what, but...