The Wild Hunt

 Exquisite, masterful and compelling.  Not the biggest fan of Medieval Times or the Renaissance Fair, but Director/Producer/Co-writer Alexandre Franchi's dramatic tragedy is a cautionary tale so well told it completely sucked me in. 

The Wild Hunt is an ancient myth where a lost soul joins a phantasmal group of huntsmen in their mad pursuit.  Seeing the Wild Hunt was presage some catastrophe, and mortals getting swept away by the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead.  This feature film grabs the human experience tightly with both hands and kisses it deeply.

A fantasy reenactment game mirrors real life when Erik Magnasson, brilliantly played by Ricky Mabe, crashes into the event and discovers his lost self through roleplaying. 

His reluctant girlfriend, the wickedly beautiful Tiio Horn, has escaped the drama of real life to play a captured Viking princess seduced by being held a prize.

Erik's older brother, Bjorn, nailed by co-writer/actor Mark A. Krupa, takes him on a quest to steal her away from the celtics to save her from the bloodlust of the Shaman Murtagh's (Trevor Hayes) Wild Hunt.

 

The script is tight, Claudine Sauve's shooting is mystical, the editing is transparent, the music intuitively supports the action are a subtle, even the credits are subtle and engaging.  

Mid-movie, I was so sucked into the story that I completely forgot I was watching a film.

Definitely a contender for Best Feature at the Anchorage International Film Festival.