66. LANDLOCKED (2023) dir. Paul Owens

LANDLOCKEDtells the story of Mason (Mason Owens) returning to his childhood home, a year after his father's death, to claim any items of value before the house's demolition. He finds an old VHS camera, looks through the viewfinder and sees himself as a child playing in the room. There's no tape. Wherever Mason points, a memory plays, even events he wasn't present for. He grows obsessed with recording these memories, even as he captures mysterious spectres staring at him in the background. Writer/director Paul Owens integrates his family's home videos into this narrative, going so far as to cast himself, his brothers and father in the film. It creates a layer of authenticity that speaks to Owens' possible fears of loss, the deterioration of not only the places, things and people we love, but also our memories of these experiences. Everything fades to time and it's our biology to run away screaming. The movie meanders for too many scenes of Mason quietly recording home footage, stretching what would be a well-paced short to feature length. However, for those who love it, I assume these glimpses of memory serve as an extension of grace, a way for at least one of us to get to relive the past with as close to perfect accuracy as possible. ---Reviews I mention: Shaun Huhn (CineNiche) Katelyn Nelson (Daily Grindhouse)---Follow The Movies on ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠& ⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠Financially support the podcast via the ⁠⁠tip jar!