It captures a kind of essential form of self-expression (and pleasure) that exceeds categorization, creating a shared experience between the musicians, the filmmakers, and the viewer that feels sublime.
A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France, Estonia, Germany · 2013
Rated PG · 1h 34m
Director Ben Russell
Starring Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Genre Documentary, Music
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A man at three disparate moments in his life: as a member of a fifteen-person collective on a small Estonian island, alone in the wilderness of Northern Finland, and as the singer of a neo-pagan black metal band in Norway. Three moments for a radical creation of utopia in the present.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
It’s the cathartic, even meditative qualities of metal that are explored in A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness, a new documentary whatsit that frequently resembles nothing so much as an adaptation of some imaginary black-metal record.
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
Landscapes and lyric conundrums distinguish the first two-thirds of this find-your-own-meaning artflick, which unfurls like some stranger's life you're half reliving.
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
The film is accessible and often hypnotic on an intuitive level.
The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic
This is a film that should, at the very least, make one appreciate the all-encompassing breadth of cinema, and, at most, provoke deeper thought of transcendental existence in correlation with nature and The Idea of Man.
Users who liked this film also liked
Carnage
A new comedy of no manners
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany, Poland • 2011
- Director Roman Polanski
- Cast Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly, Elvis Polanski, Eliot Berger
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
The Act of Killing
(Jagal)
A story of killers who win, and the society they build.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway • 2012
- Director Joshua Oppenheimer
- Cast Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik, Yapto Soerjosoemarno, Safit Pardede
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Netflix, Fandor Amazon Channel, MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Hoopla
Insidious: Chapter 3
A prequel to the Insidious franchise, focusing on the haunting of teenager Quinn.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United Kingdom, United States • 2015
- Director Leigh Whannell
- Cast Stefanie Scott, Lin Shaye, Dermot Mulroney, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter
- Genre Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Anomalisa
A man who perceives everyone as having the same voice and face falls for a unique woman.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2015
- Director Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
- Cast David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
- Genre Animation, Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, fuboTV, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Epix Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, FlixFling, Kanopy
Coco
The celebration of a lifetime!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United States, Mexico • 2017
- Director Lee Unkrich
- Cast Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Jaime Camil
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music
- Available on Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Bohemian Rhapsody
Fearless lives forever
- ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2018
- Director Bryan Singer
- Cast Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Aidan Gillen
- Genre Drama, Music
- Available on Hulu, fuboTV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Joker
A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane, turning to a life of crime in chaos in Gotham City.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 2019
- Director Todd Phillips
- Cast Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham
- Genre Crime, Thriller, Drama
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
1917
Two British soldiers race to deliver a message that will stop over 1,000 men from walking into a German ambush.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2019
- Director Sam Mendes
- Cast George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq
- Genre War, Drama, Action
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand