Film
A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
- Musical
- Strange
- Slow-burning
A portrait of Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe across three experiments in alternative living: a collective on an Estonian island, solitude in the Finnish wilderness, and a Norwegian black metal band. It's meditative and strange, following one person's search for utopian belonging through sound, ritual, and community. For those drawn to experimental music, esoteric practice, and the question of how to live differently.
If you liked this
Dig2012
A documentary about the Closing Ceremony band: their creative process, personalities, and the strange magnetism of anti-establishment artists building something together outside conventional structures.
But Very insular and almost impenetrably focused on a single scene that may feel hermetic or self-indulgent if you're not already curious about experimental music collectives.
Heroin(e)2017
Documents three people in Huntington, West Virginia pursuing radical solutions to crisis: a judge, an activist, a musician. About the ethics of care and how to build something meaningful against systems that resist it.
But Shifts focus across three lives rather than settling into one, and the American opioid crisis content is heavy and deliberately non-sensationalized—which requires patience.
Crumb1995
Portrait of an artist (Robert Crumb) driven by obsession and vision, shot through with strange humour and genuine affection. Explores the cost and beauty of making work outside the mainstream.
But Assumes you care about comic books and underground art. Also quietly uncomfortable with some of Crumb's sexual imagery and the film doesn't flinch from it.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Stalker1979
Both films are spiritual quest narratives shot through with a semi-religious reverence for sound, silence, and the possibility of transformation through sustained attention and ritual.
Andrei Tarkovsky's metaphysical journey into a mysterious zone where a wish might be granted. Otherworldly, hypnotic, about desire and the spiritual yearning that drives all seeking.
But Soviet sci-fi filmed in the 70s: glacially slow (3h 43m), concerned with philosophy over plot, and the pacing is a formal choice, not a flaw. Demands surrender.
More like this (6)
Grey Gardens1976
Intimate, unsettling documentary about two reclusive women living in aesthetic and social chaos. Hypnotic, darkly funny, and asks hard questions about freedom versus decline.
But Cruel at moments—the filmmakers' distance creates an anthropological quality that can feel exploitative. Also structurally fragmentary in ways that frustrate some viewers.
The Act of Killing2012
Indonesian death-squad perpetrators re-enact their murders as art. Genuinely philosophical about violence, performance, and moral evasion. Radical and unforgettable.
But Disturbing in ways that don't resolve or comfort. The length (2h 30m) compounds the moral vertigo. Not a film you watch for pleasure in any normal sense.
Marjoe1972
Documentary portrait of a child evangelist deconstructing his own faith performance. Sharp, intimate, and genuinely curious rather than mocking. About belief, spectacle, and authenticity.
But Focuses on a specific American religious phenomenon you may find tedious. The 70s grain and pacing feel slow to modern eyes.
Particle Fever2013
Physicists at CERN hunting the Higgs boson. A document of collective human intelligence and obsession. Beautiful cinematography, genuine stakes, and a love of complex ideas.
But You need to accept that you won't fully understand the physics, and the film asks you to trust the emotional rather than intellectual revelation.
Koyaanisqatsi1983
No dialogue. Philip Glass score driving images of nature and modernity in collision. Visual and sonic rapture—a piece of pure cinema that makes you feel rather than think.
But Intentionally abstract and repetitive. If you need narrative or argument, this will seem like a very expensive screensaver.
Pumzi2009
Kenyan sci-fi film set after environmental collapse. Lyrical, formally inventive, and about hope in the face of systemic death. A utopian text disguised as dystopia.
But Low budget shows in production design. The pacing is deliberate to the point of drift. Only 18 minutes, so check your expectations accordingly.
People
Cast
Directing
- Ben RiversDirector
- Ben RussellDirector
Writing
- Ben RiversWriter
- Ben RussellWriter
Production
- Indrek KaselaProducer
- Julie GayetProducer
- Nadia TurincevProducer