Available to stream on Apple TV
Shades of The Truman Show can be found in Reflect, a movie written and directed by Dana Kippel. When she stars in it too, I can’t help but wonder if this work is a result of her going through some personal crisis that she wants to look back on, and sort through. Whatever the case, this magical journey has some elements to like, and other bits which will vary in meaning–subject to each viewer’s own experiences.
And as for whether we’re watching a television show within another depends on who wants to witness the coming challenges. There’s two men, a father and son, who seem to know what is exactly going on, and while I keyed into those characters more than the ladies, that’s because I’m a male. They seem to be in control of the larger story. And as for Summer (Kippel) and her gal pals headed to a retreat to mend fences, what transpires next is somewhat surreal in a Midsummer’s Night Dream kind of way. Although Katie (Grace Patterson), Annie (Marissa Patterson), Nia (Ariana Brown) and Liz (Jadelyn Breier) question what’s to come, Hermes (Joe Filippone) seems more genuine. But this messenger of the gods is no trickster. By the time this film gets to the first campfire scene where everyone should be singing Kum ba yah, arguments ensue!
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