There Are Questions in Search of Answers in "Sunspot”
There Are Questions in Search of Answers in "Sunspot”
Where lo-fi days turn to loving weeks.
Note: This publication is supported by readers like you. If you can, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, or feel free to leave a tip. Many thanks :)
Dear Moviegoers,
I’m unsure as to the likelihood of such an instance, but in the case of Sunspot, director Brian Mihok has achieved a film on the same wavelength as Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control. Few movies represent something so full of air and so full of ideas and questions as Limits does, even if - and especially if - it’s not a particularly well-enjoyed entry. For me, Limits has a certain lasting power despite not having, on purpose, much “happening.” Sunspot is very much exactly this, though its happenings are easier to grasp.
It’s childlike by design, but it’s also an effect of living in a place and space that moves and orbits oh so gradually.
Described as having a “minimalist aesthetic,” Sunspot indeed utilizes its small-town USA setting and its overall ethereal whimsy to a maximum. It’s about low-income working-class friends and neighbors who just try to get by day to day, as experienced through the observations and the inquisitiveness of a young woman named River. Almost every conversation she has involves a few questions about the other person or persons she’s speaking with. It’s childlike by design, but it’s also an effect of living in a place and space that moves and orbits oh so gradually.
I wouldn’t classify Sunspot as a drama, even though it has the notions of one. Characters mostly just make somewhat kindly chit-chat in quiet and sporadic fits and bursts, rarely going above high whispers.
And thus, Sunspot has a feeling of comfort about it. It’s a romance after all.
In one extended sequence, River takes a ride from a young man passing through. They end up spending the day together, walking through grass and woods, taking in the scenery, and falling for one another cutely. It’s fleeting, but it’s nice. That’s what this is - a fleeting but nice romance. With what? With growing up. With being. With being around others. That’s nice.
There’s a lag to both Sunspot and The Limits of Control, but with Sunspot, patience is not being purposefully tested, and it never feels as though it’s biding time (not that Limits is doing that). Both are complete visions from craftsmen, and both have questions that are asked but rarely directly answered, but only Sunspot has the feeling of familiarity, of the audience potentially recognizing these questions, as they’re the general ones that most people generally have when just going through the grind. And thus, Sunspot has a feeling of comfort about it. It’s a romance after all.
The Limits of Control is, to me, a comedy of dry sorts. While it and Sunspot share the fullness of thoughts and a void of convenience, they do differ in at least one way. I wanted Limits to finish quickly, but I didn’t want Sunspot to end anytime soon. Get to the punchline, but stay in love for as long as you can. This Brian Mihok guy is quite the filmmaker. Jarmuschian, even. 4/5
Sunspot is currently touring the film festival circuit.
Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
Note: This publication is supported by readers like you. If you can, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, or feel free to leave a tip. Many thanks :)