INVENTION
(director/writer: Courtney Stephens; screenwriter: Callie Hernandez; cinematographer: Rafael Palacio Illingworth; editors: Dounia Sichov, Courtney Stephens; music: Sarah Davachi, Twig Harper, Cate Kennan, Thomas E. Sullivan; cast: Callie Hernandez (Carrie), Sahm McGlynn (Sahm), Paul Kleiman (Paul), James N. Kienitz Wilkins (The Executor); Runtime: 72; MPAA Rating: NR; producers:Courtney Stephens, Callie Hernandez; Jacket Weather/Neurotika Haus; 2024)
“A wonky work of docufiction.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A wonky work of docufiction shot on 16mm, that’s partly fictional. It’s passionately directed by Courtney Stephens (“Terra Femme”/”The American Sector”). It stars and is co-written by Callie Hernandez, playing the character Carrie.
Carrie is the daughter of a father she doesn’t really know, who is an inventor and alternative health practitioner. She yearns to learn more about her conspiracy-minded dad, who practices homeopathy. She relishes viewing her real father on archival footage, as he’s seen over the years on TV hawking his wares.
Callie’s character inherits dad’s experimental healing device after his death.
Also included are fictional scenes of the director and actors interacting while trying to push forward an improv filmmaking agenda.
The film sets a playful tone in its idiosyncratic storytelling moments that frees Callie to get off her chest what’s bottled-up inside her and react to secondary sources who offer their opinions on her dad. In the process, Carrie has a chance to decide for herself what is or is not real.
In Carrie’s search for truth, she explores why it mattered so much to her father to search for alternatives to current realities.
How one processes grief and how well one knows another person becomes the gist of this well-acted and innovative film.
It played at the Locarno Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 4/9/2025 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com