Rock Springs

After the death of her father, a grieving young girl moves to an isolated house in a new town with her mother and grandmother, only to discover there is something monstrous hidden in the town’s history and the woods behind their new home.

Writer-director Vera Miao’s ambitious, potent feature debut explores the legacy of generations of immigration and racism through a distinct and original genre lens. Spanning centuries, Miao draws from a real-life historical atrocity and Chinese beliefs about the nature of the afterlife to compose a singular portrait of inherited trauma and a stirring ode to the persistence and resilience of diasporic communities.

Kelly Marie Tran grounds the film with her portrayal of a mother’s desperate concern for her child, while Benedict Wong’s visceral performance brings the terror and tragedy of the past to the forefront with dreadful clarity. A sense of foreboding engulfs the film, as Heyjin Jun’s seamless cinematography amplifies the aura of suspense, suggesting the unhealed wounds of these characters and their world. As the goings turn increasingly supernatural, so too grows the specificity of Miao’s vision. — HZ

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