Where the Merrows Roam
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Written by: Colin Hickey | Directed by: Colin Hickey | Genre: Drama |
| At times gritty but not from the presentation, Where the Merrows Roam is a unique film not just in ideas but also style. It’s a cinematic experience meant to be taken in as such. The title of the film is a little strange to me except maybe in that this film is an Irish piece and includes lots of water in the imagery and seems to deal more with themes of cradle to grave and everything in the middle. The people, us, are the subject, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, this 60-minute title from Colin Hickey says an immeasurable amount. All without saying a thing.
This is a film that is completely dialog-free. The ideas are conveyed through images, sounds, and music. Often sounds are synced up to what’s happening onscreen, and I got to say… watching this film was quite the experience. I felt like an elastic band sometimes as the tone would shift from tranquil to chaotic and then back to still. This was done not just with the images and music but also the editing technique. Watching this film was like watching the Irish countryside itself. Ups and downs and angles. I’ll again reiterate that Where the Merrows Roam does this all with no talking. I find it hard to go into a really detailed account of this film because it was all so dreamlike and open. I used to play a game when I was young where I would make up stories about strangers I had seen. You could do that here. I’m not suggesting that this is a thoughtless and random venture—the opposite. The experience is designed to open your mind to possibilities, even if just a little—someone watching random people from afar. I can’t say for certain what Colin Hickey set out to do when making this movie. Was it meant to be purely an experience? Was it meant to be a digital form of LSD in the sense it could open you up to possibilities you may never have thought of? Or was it simply meant to be a different, trance-like adventure? I would like to say that you don’t even really have to be paying full attention, but then I think back and remember that constantly I found myself contemplating the meaning of the imagery. Where the Merrows Roam is its own kind of movie. Even categorizing it as a drama feels like blasphemy. Four stars, and thank you for reading. ‘Where the Merrows Roam’ – Official Trailer from Colin Hickey on Vimeo. Find this title online |
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