Riddle of Fire

Three children break into a house and steal a games console. They take it home but the television has a lock. Their mother is ill and in bed; she will give them the code but sets a condition. She wants a blueberry pie. The children go to the bakery; there is none left. The baker gives them the recipe and one ingredient is missing: a particular egg. That egg is at a farm and the farm is in other people's hands. The children go there. There is a group there; they are poaching and occupied with a strange rite. Weston Razooli writes and directs; it is his first feature. Charlie Stover, Skyler Peters, Phoebe Ferro, Charles Halford and Lio Tipton are in the cast. It is an American production. It was shot on 16 mm and its image recalls the children's adventures of the seventies. It was shown in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. It was filmed in Utah and the country works inside the narrative. Its form is a fairy tale; the children are given a task and a new obstacle appears at every step. The film does not idealise the children; they steal, they swear and they do not understand the danger at all. The narrative does not explain its fantastic element and leaves the boundary of the real uncertain. Its limit is structure; the plot is loose and the last section comes apart. Who it is for: viewers who like American independent cinema and narratives shaped like tales. Who it is not for: it is scattered, the pace uneven, and the style not for everyone.