They surround us, walking with us and illuminating the path, warning, mocking or perhaps lifting us in ethereal arms that enshroud with loving kindness, the unforgettable angels/ghosts/demons inhabiting "Gods & Monsterss," the latest film from Risha Gorig (filmmaker, artist and dancer). Every frame delivers -- arresting, enveloping and unvarnished images following the life struggles of seven main characters as they interact with each other and forces that may exist on a plane just beyond human perception. The specters watch over, unseen, all our failures to rise above ritualized violence and self-absorbed frenzy in a world full of conflicting energies and impulses.
Every form of art humanity can express is on bold, exotic, dream-inspired display in this film; from thr bright, brutal stanzas that serve in voiceover throughout this cinematic poem to the obsessed dance of the ballerina at the barre and the insistent heartbeat of a mournful sax in bebop counterpoint to an angry youth erupting senselessly. Breathtaking aerial footage plays slyly alongside a baby being fawned over in its crib, while the celestial is depicted just as realistically as the highways, overpasses, whiskey bars and S&M dungeons of our choosing and creation -- honestly and with conviction. A spirit soothes an old woman as she passes, a young woman eventually winds up homeless -- truth along the spectrum of lif as it is and possibly can be animates and propels the story.
"Gods & Monsterss" challenges us to see how much we are of both things the title suggests. Facing up to it is the gauntlet this original, provocative, disturbingly lyrical and profoundly poetic film full of dance, music and grace throws down. Pick it up, if you can and hold on as long as you are able.