There was a time, not too long ago, when the future of Hollywood looked seemed like it was going to be in the garage. In the mid 2000s, films like Sin City and (the wildly underrated) Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow delivered glossy, whiz-bang thrills despite being filmed almost entirely on small, enclosed soundstages, with sets, props, and sometimes even characters conjured digitally in post. These were both high-budget studio films, but the implications were clear: these innovations, combined with the rise of digital cameras and editing suites, scrappy independent filmmakers could soon go toe-to-toe with the Spielbergs and Lucases of the world, cooking up high-tech blockbusters in their parents’ backyards. For one reason or another, however, this path wound up meeting a dead end: the success of Iron Man and The Dark Knight in 2008 more or less dictated the direction Hollywood would take for the foreseeable future, and indies started distinguishing themselves with proudly practical special effects. Still, there’s been nothing stopping someone from making the Great American Basement Blockbuster. The technology is still there (and constantly improving), so the question ultimately boils down to: what’s taking them so long?
While it remains to be seen whether The Wanting Mare becomes a true “blockbuster” in the financial sense of the word, it seems safe to say that the artistic side of the prophecy has come to pass. Funded via IndieGogo and shot by a skeleton crew over the course of several years, The Wanting Mare is a sweeping sci-fi epic, with a fully realized mythology and a story spanning decades. What’s remarkable about it (as shown in this eye-popping making-of video) is that every frame of it was shot in an enclosed set in East Orange, New Jersey, its locations projected behind its intimate cast via greenscreen. The result is nothing short of seamless, and while I wish the story grabbed me more than it did, it’s still a work of chutzpah that demands to be seen.
The story concerns a remote, crumbling city called Withren, located in the northern hills of Anmaere (Anmaere appears to be on earth, albeit in an early-post-apocalyptic state; civilization seems to have more or less crumbled, but one character still has a working 8-track deck). The main trade of Withren is its herds of wild horses, which are rounded up once a year and shipped off to more exotic climes. With each horse, however, comes a ticket for a human. These tickets are the town’s true currency, with an underground network set up around the promise of a better life. Together, orphan Moira (Jordan Monaghan) and outcast Lawrence (director Nicholas Ashe Bateman) devise a plan to obtain tickets and start a new life away from Withren. But things go awry, and we follow the ups and downs of their lives over the course of more than thirty years.
It really can’t be overstated how great The Wanting Mare looks, especially considering the circumstances of its creation. Watching it, I had a general sense of how it was made, but I had not yet watched the behind-the-scenes video. Even with my how’d-they-do-that radar up, I found myself thinking, “Okay, clearly THIS was actually shot outside– it must be just outside the set.” It wasn’t; everything, from the rolling hills to the dirty city streets, is an illusion. It’s the sort of magic trick where, even after seeing the reveal, it’s difficult to make your mind accept what it is you’re actually seeing. It’s proof that, even in an age where digital effects have become de rigueur, it’s still possible to make a special effects film with your computer that creates genuine wonder.
That being said, I do wish the story itself was a little more dynamic. The mythology, while clearly intricately thought out, occasionally feels muddled and tough to parse, and the dramatic scenes are mumbly and elliptical in a way that just doesn’t quite click for me. This is, admittedly, something of a “me” problem, but I can only take so much of beautiful, sullen characters muttering half-conversations and staring into the middle distance before I start climbing the walls (I had a similar problem with She Dies Tomorrow, which put me in the critical minority). Bateman obviously has such a clear vision of his world that I wanted to see more of it– more detail to the black-market ticket thieves, to the international horse trade, to the towering, belching, futuristic steamship which provides salvation to the scrappy survivors. What fun is a trip to a faraway world when the people you’re with just want to mope around their house all day?
Still, even if you take nothing away from The Wanting Mare but its technological achievements and aesthetic pleasures, you’re still left with a full meal. Bateman’s accomplishment here is daring, but, crucially, he also knows his limits: you won’t find any garish, prequelesque CGI cityscapes or computer-generated characters, or any of the extravagances which are so often a death knell for filmmakers without proper means or experience. Here, Bateman clearly knows exactly what he wants and what he has the ability to do, and he pulls it off flawlessly. I’m told that this is the first in a planned series of Anmaere films, and I truly hope more get made. If this is what Bateman can accomplish on IndieGogo funds, one can only imagine what he can pull off on an actual bankroll.
The Wanting Mare
2020
dir. Nicholas Ashe Bateman
98 min.
Now available digitally and on demand
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