None can deny the reality of anxiety, something raised through the cinema. In Seayoon Jeong’s experimental feature films, a specific kind of anxiety known as Nyctophobia is explored… the fear of the dark.
Liz (Olivia Clair Nice) is a Nyctophobia. She is unable to sleep without the lights on and thus, cannot allow her body the rest it requires. As explained on the film’s website, the condition “is associated with a number of sleep disorders including insomnia and sleep paralysis, and also with various physical and psychological symptoms, including panic attacks, shortness of breath, chest pain, as well as dizziness, among other things”
In Nyctophobia, we are subsumed into Liz’s pajamas as she tries to navigate this space that is between the worlds of the real and that of dreams. Initially, we are deceived and we journey with a young Liz (Sophia Biscotti) through the calmness of a forest. Soon however, Liz is forced into her recurring dream that places us at a porthole of nightmarish clowns.
Every effort Liz puts in trying to get around the clowns drives her deeper into a darker form of reality. Some other more, she appears as a Jazz lounge singer performing to an unfriendly audience. In one she is a rag doll that has been possessed by an evil sorceress, and in one else she becomes an 80s dancer. In another instance, while still a schoolgirl, she walks into a deserted classroom full of bloody mannequins.
Nyctophobia is a phobia in case of the eccentric film styles. Film writer Jeong not only guides her audience through the phases of sleep but also provides imagery that seeks to explain LIZ’s condition from her point of view when she attempted to enter into the regenerative sleep stage. But at the same time, her body was losing the battle against her brain which was controlling all of her actions.
Except for a brief voice-over which acts as a frightful reminder of the nightmare that the film is about, Nyctophobia does not contain much in terms of speech directed by the characters. It is similar to Disneyland’s “Adventures into Inner Space’’ one of the old rides in my view. Instead of showing us an atom, Jeong takes us through several sleep phases, including lying in bed and being put into slumber. It is at this point that Jeong combines practical and CG effects to depict what the brain perceives prior to us being buried in Liz’s world.
Jeong then shows a sequence of impressive set designs beginning from the earlier mentioned school of dummies to demon clown heads at the end of a monitor wall. Through the use of CG effects, Jeong materializes the frightening images that many of us have endured at one point in our life. For Liz, however, they happen every day. Together with the CG and practical effects, there comes an intriguing ASMR session we are drawn into.
Nyctophobia turns out to be a work of art. As an artist, writer, and director Jeong creates images as a device so as to visually convey feelings and concepts with the intention of reaching out to the spectators. Nevertheless, even though the idea is a bit out of the ordinary, I never felt obfuscated and got the sense of movement of this exploration. Nyctophobia might not appeal to all the viewers, but for fans of the experimental and the bizarre, it is an experience to remember. if you are courageous enough!
For watch more movies visit: 123Movies