 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Erzulie • Year: 2022 • Country: USA • Director: Christine Chen • Main cast: Courtney Oliviér, Elizabeth Trieu, Zoe Graham, Diana Rose, Leila Anastasia Scott • Runtime: 86 minutes • Production company: Wild Heart Productions I, Moth to flame films, The Wild Heart Company • TRAILER
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Mythological creatures that grant your wishes, perhaps we have forgotten them now that the modern time’s technology is swallowing fantasy and imagination, but they have always been out there. But when desperation takes over your life you search for any possible answer to all your problems and frustrations. And that’s when the character named Wendy Woloft tricks her best girl friends into a little vacation out at the cabin by the lake when they used to spend fun times when they were young, only this time she has a secret mission to carry on with.
And this is the start point of the fantasy-horror movie Erzulie (2022). A movie with a few surprises, a story that might not be the most original one but still has some good cards and fresh moves, and where the values of respect and friendship prevail at the end.
Christine Chen debuts here as the director, producer, and co-writer of a feature film and she manages to imprint an equilibrium of the flaws of a newby with originality and honesty. The sisterhood and complicity are not only text written in the screenplay, but it’s also present on the screen.
Erzulie (2022) is a small independent film with not a big ambition but an honest passion for what it wants to communicate. Flirting with social subjects like feminism and toxic masculinity, both in personal relationships but also in the labor market, fantasy is used as an escape for the characters and as the foundations for a movie where primitive facts like greed and revenge are always present.
The actors, both friends and foes, do a great job in order to build the story. The characters have their own personality, but they are still built having different layers, running away from the stereotypes so easy to assign. Perhaps the story is not developed enough, probably due to budgetary motives and to keep the entire action in one location, but that doesn’t damage the final result.
And, in the end, the message is simple: Respect, above all. Not the typical happy ending, but one kind of unexpected and with a final taste of positivity. An ending that, although I am never a big fan of them, I hate the sugar in the too-happy movie closures, this time it works smooth. It all makes sense. And I get the feeling of joy for having been a witness to this story.
So, to summarize, I first had an interest in a movie like Erzulie (2022) because, let’s be honest, there are not so many mermaid films out there, I had to see what it had to offer. Also, a creature feature with the aura of horror about a mythological being that played the role of a protector of the women was something I couldn’t miss. Lucky for me, this time I got exactly what I expected: A small independent film, entertaining but not hollow, with a good few surprises, nicely built characters, and an enjoyable story.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt14069192
