REVIEW - King Castling (Directed by Dale Loon & Catalina Cardenas)

The 'Royal game' or 'mind sport' known as 'Chess' has become a classic plot device for movies ever since Ingmar Bergman's 1957 classic The Seventh Seal, and has featured prominently in numerous flicks ever since, including From Russia with Love, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, X-Men, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows to name but a few - and now there is a new movie to join their ranks.

King Castling is a short fantasy drama directed by students of Canada's prestigious Toronto Film School, Dale Loon (Waking Conundrum, Survival/Humanity/Mortality) and Catalina Cardenas (Waking Conundrum, The Rest of my Life, Deuce) who reunite again here to tell the quintessential tale of a battle of good versus evil played over a game of - yes, you've guessed it - Chess. The good and the evil here are distilled into two distinct characters, perhaps more universally iconic than the game of Chess itself; the angel (played by Quentin Stoesz), and the demon (played by Isabella Rodriguez).

Film connoisseur and jury member at our sister festival, the Fortean Film Festival, Jamie Cowmeadow was full of praise for this film:

"I really like the scenery and the use of mise-en-scène throughout.

"The angel, dressed in a brighter colour tone to show they're the protagonist, and the demon dressed in a darker tone to show they're the antagonist. This works well and is a great way of defining the good character, and likewise the bad character.

"The use of lighting is also impactful here; a more vibrant colour surrounding the angel gives us a distinctive on-screen presence; conversely the demon has a darkness around her, with gloomy lighting giving the viewer a more unsettling visual presence.

"The use of Rembrandt lighting around the angel's face gives a more natural appearance, while retaining a dramatic impact, and the use of a lot of shade around the demon's face creates an air of mystery and suspicion. The use of lighting here also helps to portray the character's motives and moods well.

"There are repetitive extreme close-ups which are used effectively as a great way of building up the tension and intensity between the characters, and it shows which character is getting the upper hand and which character is at a disadvantage as the game unfolds.

"I enjoyed the slow pull-out showing the angel rearranging the chessboard at the end of the film."

"The use of the over-the-shoulder shots were good, but I have mixed opinions on how they were executed. For me, I felt like the camera was a bit too unsteady when going back and forth between the characters. It appears that this was captured handheld, making the shot unsteady and sometimes this impacted the focus, other than that the cinematography was hard to fault."

"In terms of sound design, the music seems to overpower the dialogue at times, and there are moments when this makes it much more difficult to hear."

Television producer Tim Whittard (Cat Hunters: The Search for the Beast of Exmoor, Panthera Britannia Declassified/Big Cat Britain Declassified, Weird Britain, Unexplained Island, Expedition Sumatra: In Search of the Orang Pendek) said:

"Consensus among our jury is that Loon and Cardenas have paid good attention to detail in this short flick, while Stoesz and Rodriguez do a fair job on the performances, collectively creating a film which demonstrates a great potential in these student filmmakers. There is always room for improvement, but they should all be very proud of this entertaining short."

Overall, as an exercise in storytelling, this film is enjoyable and easy to understand. It will likely be appreciated and find an audience in those with an interest in drama, sci-fi, and fantasy, and by those who have a preference for short form media.