‘Arcadian’ SXSW 2024 Review: A Deeply Satisfying Creature Feature
Drew Tinnin
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As of late, every time a new Nicolas Cage film surfaces, meme generators start buzzing and the internet plucks out a viral moment from another explosive performance from the actor’s unique career. There is one hero shot of Cage in director Ben Brewer’s dystopian family film Arcadian, but it’s completely earned. That’s mostly due to the fact that Cage deliberately pulls back here, delivering a restrained performance as a worried Dad trying to keep his teenage sons alive in a broken world teeming with wild beasts.
Arcadian starts in the past with a closeup of Paul (Cage) running and scavenging his way through a concrete city on fire. A battle is in full force and there’s a sense that we humans aren’t just losing, we’re being decimated. On the outer city limits, Paul retreats back to a hovel where he’s been hiding his two baby boys. Fifteen years later, Paul and his teenage sons, Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins), have carved out a semi-normal existence inside a fortified house in the country. Each night, they stand guard while unseen creatures bang and scratch on their door, plotting to get in by any means necessary.
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By day, there are signs of typical family life. In one scene, Paul teaches Joseph (who may be a genius) to drive his new Mopar Jeep made entirely out of junk. That rite of passage is still happening despite the end of the world. The false sense of security leads Thomas to venture out to a compound operated by a more affluent family. He tells his Dad he’s going to help out on the farm. Really, he just wants to flirt with Charlotte (Sadie Soverall), who seems like the only cool teenager left on the planet. On the way back home one evening, Thomas falls into a crevice caused by the burrowing creatures below. That sets off a desperate chain of events where both families collide during a full-fledged monster onslaught.
While that may seem like a familiar premise in the genre world in recent years, that didn’t stop any of the hundreds of film fans at SXSW from lining up for the world premiere. Fresh off the plane from his appearance at the Oscars, Cage’s presence in the theater made the standout moments in Arcadian feel that much more electric.
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Following the cinematic rules laid out by the school of Spielberg, the audience only sees the spiked claws and gangly fingers of the creatures at first. The slow reveal culminates in a quiet, spine-tingling sequence where a stretched arm reaches out to an impossible length as it tries to grab a sleeping Joseph alone at home. To make a story like Arcadian truly sing, the creature design has to be unique and visually gripping. If the monster doesn’t work, it lessens the impact of the scares. More importantly, it can undermine the heart and sacrifice of the characters trying to survive.
Luckily, Brewer is not only the director of Arcadian, but he’s also the VFX creative lead artist, making for a true marriage of crafting the shots and constructing the complex organics of the creatures themselves. Initially, Brewer was drawn to the brotherly bond between Joseph and Thomas when he came aboard the project. It’s not a coincidence, then, that his own brother, Alex, worked on the modeling and 3D creature design. The result is an anatomical anomaly that resembles the wirehaired shell dwellers from George Lucas’ THX-1138 with the face of Saelt-Marae (aka Yak Face) seen at Jabba’s Palace in Return of the Jedi.
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Arcadian also manages to soar because of the idyllic Irish countryside. Cinematographer Frank Mobilio takes advantage of the cascading waterfalls and dense forests, making the dread the characters suddenly face seem even more jarring. A tight, resourceful script from Michale Nilon also keeps the family dynamic (and Cage) grounded and relatable.
The only real issue with Arcadian is its overreliance on handheld camera work. Fortunately, the shaky cam is more noticeable during the moments between the calamity, so it’s never disorienting enough to ruin any of the thrilling action sequences leading up to the final conflict.
When Arcadian isn’t focused purely on the visceral battle between us and them, its main undercurrent deals with the responsibility of prepping the next generation for self-reliance. Cage plays Paul like the Dad you hope will raise you when the world falls to pieces. As for the reason why everything collapsed, no one really remembers exactly how it happened, sparing us from needless exposition. The why isn’t important, it’s how you’re going to keep going that really matters.
RLJE Films has acquired distribution rights to Arcadian for North America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Expect a theatrical release on April 12, 2024, followed by a streaming premiere later this year on Shudder and AMC+.
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Arcadian
Summary
When Arcadian isn’t focused purely on the visceral battle between us and them, it’s main undercurrent deals with the responsibility of prepping the next generation for self-reliance.
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