🟨 Rift (2017) Review - Answers Found Dead in a Ditch | Film Waffle

Rift (2017) directed by Erlingur Thoroddsen

Hah! You thought I was dead and buried after not publishing for a few weeks, didn't you? Well, not so fast buckaroo. I'm here! And I'm...! Well. You know the rest. Let's hit it.

I have very mixed feelings about Euro cinema. On the one hand, I appreciate the experimental nature. Europeans are much more likely to be ambiguous and subtle. To play with the surreal and mess with your mind.            

Probably has something to do with them not getting that Hollywood money; instead, they often get support from government culture departments. It's a practice that cultivates a unique atmosphere of creativity. One more artsy and less flashy compared to American cinema. 

However, the line between avant-garde and artsy fartsy is notoriously slim. And, while some European media walk this tightrope well, the vast majority do not.

Take today's movie from jolly ol' Iceland, Rift. 

Or, as I've taken to calling it, Twinks Up North: The Horror Movie.

In true European fashion, it pulls a fistful of weird crap out of its pocket, dumps them on the kitchen floor, and tells you to mop up the pieces like an abused housewife.

"Fuckin', do it yourself, BITCH!"

Quick Summary

Gunnar is a university professor(?) and local Reykjavik twink. He's shacked up in a cute lil' apartment with a cute lil' twink who I assume is a student. One night, Gunnar's twink ex-boyfriend Einar leaves him a cryptic voicemail. 

In it, Einar describes living back home in the country and waking up feeling like someone is watching him. 

Ooooooo. Spooky. Even if it is just your normal night terror. 

Fix your sleep schedule and meditate, Einar. That'll sort you right out. Maybe you'll even stop calling your ex at 3AM. Desperate much.

In any case, Gunnar, fearing that Einar might commit seppuku, hops in his car and travels to rural Iceland to check up on his OG.

Story & Characters

There's lots of non sequiturs in this movie. What do I mean by that?

Well, you'll have Gunnar. Gunnar will announce he is about to do something. He begins doing it. Then, inexplicably, he does the complete opposite in the next scene.

Case in point, Gunnar gets fed up with Einar at one point of the film and resolutely declares he is returning to Reykjavik. He gets in his car and angrily drives off.

He grabs a coffee and fills up at the local gas petrol station.

In the following scene, our main boy Gunnar talks to Einar in country field. He says that he's staying now.

???

Dude. What. 

What made you change your mind? Are we missing a scene? Did that cup of joe kick your ass?

See what I mean? It's a non sequitur. The actions do not follow the setup. Maybe call it narrative whiplash or a simple plot contrivance. 

"Smack that abort button, Houston. We can't have any coherent character development in my Euro twink film!~"

It happens like three or four times, all concerning major beats in the story. Characters about to do something and then suddenly, for some unknown reason, deciding not to do it.

Einar: "I saw a spooky thing! I'm going to investigate it!"

*10 seconds later for no clear reason.*

Einar: "Jk. Never mind! Let's chat and pretend like nothing happened."

I'm unsure if this one of those Euro cinema quirks or if this is shoddy character development. I'm leaning toward the later. 

And, boy, was it annoying.

It's made worse by the hodgepodge of imagery and plot points. Like I said in the intro, lots of things are dumped on the kitchen floor. Occasionally things are brought up again, but some elements are introduced and then vanish for the rest of the film. Very "what was the point?"

The lack of focus makes the film feel arbitrary. Less "That was so weird and creepy!"-vibes. More "Wtf was that even?"-vibes. 

That said, the film does succeed in creating a tense mood in every scene. Dread, even. Like something horrific is dancing just under the surface of the mystery.

I like that. I like movies that do that and don't feel the need to shout into your face with blood, guts, and gore. Build some unsettling intrigue, and I'm game. It even manages to do that in the aforementioned nothingburger scenes, which was quite impressive.

Throughout, the film has a constant lingering terror. That's right, ladies and gents, open your textbooks because we are whipping out Stephen King horror categorizations in this review.

The performances were also really great.

Our power couple Gunnar and Einar are forced to carry the weight of the movie on their shoulders, and they succeed with flying colors. The stakes revolve around their broken relationship, so that pillar needed to be sturdy.

This is despite the fact that Gunnar's actor, Björn Stefánsson, looks like the Creeper from Scooby-Doo. 

That's really mean, I know. But I can't help it! It was stuck in my head the entire time. The similarity in the facial structure is uncanny.

And now everyone's favorite section where I point out weird stuff I noticed.

Einar: "It's only 10 o'clock. You're going to wake up in the middle of the night!" 

These nords vampires or something? That's a completely normal time to go to bed. I get that the sun gets all fucked up as you near the poles, but c'mon.

There's also that bit shown in the trailer when someone pulls a box cutter on the boys.

Maybe it's just me, but someone trying to threaten with a dinky ass box cutter is not that scary. That might be American ass talking. But. Like. I grew up in a deer hunter's household. My dad had a whole fuckin assortment of hunting knives and machetes in addition to his rifles. A box cutter is nothing compared to that shit.

Hell, you probably have to have a license for that shit in Iceland. And it's not even a particularly large blade on that one! You got, what? Maybe an inch of length on that edge? Oops. Sorry. 2.54 centimeters. 

As for the ending? IDK man. Nothing is explained, as usual. Every string is left untied. I hate that, honestly. Commit, brother. At least give us a base to work off of for theorizing.

How much, if anything, was a hallucination? What about the hitchhikers? The farmer? The ugly red Suzuki?

aLL iNterPrETaTiOns arE VAliD!

mAKe YoUr Own FUn!

Yeah. No. That's bullshit.

Reminds me of all the procedurally generated video games that got pumped out in the wake of Minecraft (coincidentally also make by a Nord). 

Vast. Empty. Lifeless.

If you've watched the film, I found a particularly good comment for theorizing on Reddit. Would highly recommend giving it a peek: https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/93ui27/rift_2017_discussion/kxd9ljb/.

Mechanics & Structure

Okay. I was kinda down on the actual story of this movie, but the mechanics are fantastic!

This is such a beautifully shot film.

We love some Dutch angle.

Notice that he's in front of his red taillights. The red on his face is a deliberate decision to enhance the tension of the scene.

Nice and cozy warm tones appear when they are working through their feelings for each other. Then the cool tones appear when things are tense. 

It's a fun visual contrast, and I like it.

The music is also quite good. It evokes a somber, small feeling that matches both the loneliness the two men are feeling and the shots that show them in the barren cold of Iceland.

We also get a mix of first-person, shaky over-the-shoulder cam, and wide angles. In contrast to the story's indecisiveness, I enjoyed the varied approach here. This felt like a valid manifestation of the distress and confusion felt by the main characters.

There's the external question: Are they being watched?

And the internal: Why am I doing this?

Final Thoughts

In the end, Rift was too indulgent for my tastes. It's your usual Euro surrealism mixed with twink boyfriend drama. The horror is so incoherent and open that I don't even know where to begin making sense of it. In that respect, it may be a good movie to watch with your buddy and shoot the shit over possible, wild theories about the film's intentions.

I do praise it as a mood piece, though. This is in no small part due to its great audio, camera magic, and excellent performances. They allow a messy story like this one to punch far above its weight.

🟨 Rating: 6/10