My Favorite Films... Wreckers

Wreckers
​Directed by D R Hood

This film had an enormous impact on me the first time I watched it, but I wasn't entirely sure why. I remember the first time I watched this film I was overcome with emotion, all sorts of emotions: sadness, anger, lust, grief, happiness, isolation. It wasn't until after viewing this film numerous times that I truly began to understand what attracted me to this film. It was real. This film is very raw and very real. There is nothing extraordinary about the characters or fictitious about the story, it's simple about a real couple who are trying to make the most of their life and the situations they are facing.

These characters are very human, and they are dealing with very human problems. Like in real life, there is no good guy or bad; the characters aren't black and white. You have to work to understand their motives and actions. Like in life, people are complicated. You can't wrap a person up into a perfect characterized box; people have darkness and light in them, they are contradictions and imperfect. This film's characters captures that imperfection perfectly. To me, this type of character is what makes a film beautiful. I'm a huge supporter of having the characters of a film be the central purpose. I don't care about a plot or about drama, I care about the realness of the characters. As long as I can believe in a character, I will believe in the film. This film has real characters. 

Hood directes in a style that I can thoroughly entices me into the film. He uses the camera like a third person. Between the intense close ups and claustrophobia between the camera and the characters, I feel like I am physically in the room with these characters.  I become completely transfixed by this style. I feel like I am a part of these characters life; like I am a fly on the wall, watching these three people unravel before my eyes. At times, you feel like you've seen too much or you shouldn't be so close. I think it's this filming style that provokes so many emotions in me when I watch this film. Because within 100 minutes, I have been on the "rollercoaster of life" with these characters. I feel like I have actually experienced their lives. ​