THE OXBOW CURE (Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas). 79 minutes. Opens Friday (August 23). For venues and times, see listings. Rating: NNNN
Deeply strange and instantly captivating, The Oxbow Cure draws us in before we can begin to grasp where it might lead.
A woman suffering from an unspecified affliction (Claudia Dey) leaves the city to spend the winter alone at her cottage on Oxbow Lake. She writes a letter to her dying father and consults a chat room regarding her treatment. Otherwise, there’s little communication between her and the rest of the human race.
But she spots a figure wandering outdoors that may not be quite human. Its flesh looks charred. It walks as though on cloven hooves, or like it’s crippled by lower back pain. Is it a monster, some emaciated, snowbound swamp thing? Is it the woman’s double? And what to make of that mysterious light in the woods? Is it a UFO? The soul of her father?
Recalling the stories of Haruki Murakami, Yohan Lewis and Calvin Thomas’s film balances these mysteries with a precise sense of place and character. Dey conveys near-palpable anxiety and curiosity, providing this enigmatic story with its emotional anchor – a good thing since so much of The Oxbow Cure consists of close-ups of Dey’s face and body.
Incorporating elements of science fiction and horror, this is a strikingly intimate and imaginative journey into the phantasmagoric wilderness.
