Fantasia '19 Film Review - Sator

A labour of love based on personal experience forged on a micro-budget. Jordan Graham bares his soul showing a family rife with dysfunction under the heavy weight of a grandmother Nani (June Petersom) who is a vessel for the spirit Sator writing down the offerings. Nani's state along with absenteeism attitude of his mother comes to a head on a key birthday for Adam (Gabe Nicholson). His sister Evie (Rachel Johnson) sending him out into the woods as her brother had potentially become a serious threat to the rest of the family. There, Adam spends most of his days wandering around with a rifle on his back shooting at cans and checking out the vegetation and caves in the forest. When in the cabin, he looks at Deer Cam videos on an early version Pentium computer then at night suffers through dreams that border on hallucinations.

Brother Pete (Michael Daniel) who has problems of his own is the only one that visits Adam on occasion. Otherwise, he is left on is own isolated and cut off spending all of his time in is own head leading to in increasingly bizarre and freakish results. Evie meanwhile takes care of Nani in the family home trying to keep the fragments of her family together the best that she can.

Besides directing Graham, wrote, Dp'ed, Edited, Produced and hand wrote the opening credits of the film. The project took five years to complete with atmosphere over dialogue being the driving force of the production. The low lighting might have been a budgetary necessity but it helped produce a murky bordering on found footage quality where the viewer is not sure what they are seeing on screen which can both be confusing and a challenge mentally.  The format worked best as Adam cranked up the pixels on Deer Cam recorded events to reveal a presence that ramped up the psychosis to a peak level.

Sator is a study of family mental instability brought on by two generations of self-absorbed or worse indifferent matriarchs. The next generation is in taters with no prospects of another to follow. The dysfunction hits Adam the hardest leaving him isolated in exile with rational Evie dreading the consequence should one day he develop the energy or feel the need to come back home. The film will likely divide audiences with those up for the challenge finding it rewarding while others that are not exhausting.

**1/2 Out of 4.

Sator | Jordan Graham |  U.S.A. |2019 | 85 Minutes.

Tags: Spirit, Spirit Keeper, Isolation, Deer, Birthday Party, Camcorder, Rifle, Deer Skull, Deer Pelt, Gasoline Can, Match.