Riddle of Fire
A divertingly fresh coming-of-age adventure marks the directorial debut of Weston Razooli.
Riddle of Fire, the first feature by the American filmmaker Weston Razooli, is highly individual and contains a surprising mix of elements, but it certainly doesn't come out of nowhere. All kinds of influences are at work here, some really old and some comparatively recent. Razooli sets his film in Wyoming but the key fact about it is that it tells of the adventures of three pre-teen kids and does so from their viewpoint. That means that Riddle of Fire could have been a film aimed first and foremost at very young audiences but, in his capacity as the film’s writer, Razooli has indicated that he was calling in part on his own childhood experiences and fantasies. To that extent it was made as a personal reminder of his younger days and one feels that the film never loses sight of the idea of appealing to adults who will relish as much as he does this evocation of childhood and of the kind of tales that one enjoyed reading or seeing on the screen at an early age when it was easy to identify with the participants. Quite rightly, however exaggerated the narrative of Riddle of Fire may become, it is always treated without any sense of being tongue-in-cheek because the kids themselves are taking everything that happens seriously.
On occasion one comes across works about youngsters that nearly fit this context but not quite. One such is the classic Stand By Me (1986): it certainly features a group of 12-year-old boys but it moves into darker territory and indeed had a ‘15’ certificate in the UK. Even if the oldest kids in it were thirteen or fourteen, the 1985 movie The Goonies does sound to be more of a precursor since its adventures embraced the idea of a search for pirate treasure. Furthermore, back in the 1940s the British author Enid Blyton acquired huge fame with a series of books for children who were invited to identify with the Famous 5 whose school holidays found them exposing criminals and finding lost treasure thanks to help from old maps. As for cinema, the comic shorts featuring the street kids known as Our Gang go back to the 1930s and a realistic background was not something that prevented film indulging in narrative flights of fancy. A prime example was the early Ealing comedy set in war-torn London, 1947’s Hue and Cry, which told its tale from the viewpoint of the young teenagers who, calling themselves ‘The Blood and Thunder Boys’, succeeded in putting down a criminal organisation.
For me Hue and Cry is the best example of a film that captures the kind of reading that young boys once favoured and I suspect that in this much later age that puts it in alignment with Weston Razooli’s hopes for Riddle of Fire. He may give it a contemporary American setting but it is not afraid to echo things ancient. Razooli has, for example, acknowledged the influence on his work of the Japanese animator Hayao Mayazaki and there are times when the storyline here embraces the kind of fairy-tale details found in his world. Before going into realms more fantastical, Riddle of Fire sets up the idea of the brothers Hazel and Jodie A’Dale (Charlie Stover and Skyler Peters) needing the password for their home TV in order to watch video games on a console that they have stolen. Their mother, Julie (Daniele Hoetmer), who is in bed with a bad cold, imposes a condition: they and their friend Alice (Phoebe Ferro) can only be given the password if they first obtain for her a blueberry pie from the baker (Colleen Baum). But she in turn, also being unwell, refuses to bake one for them on being told that the last one has been sold and she will only give them the recipe – which involves the use of a speckled egg – if they first do something for her.
If such plot details would be at home in a Miyazaki animated film, so would the major development which occurs after the kids follow a cowboy, John Redrye (Charles Halford), in quest of the egg in his possession. It transpires that he is involved with a gang who call themselves 'The Enchanted Blade Gang’. These people may be rednecks but are firmly controlled by a matriarch, Anna-Freya Hollyhock (Lio Tipton), who regards herself as a witch. Indeed, she has magical powers which she has passed on to her youngest daughter, Petal (Lorelei Olivia Mote), who introduces herself as a faery being. Whatever more standard criminal activities the Hollyhocks may be indulging in in the woods, Petal’s powers make it impossible for her sisters, Kels and Suds (Andrea Browne and Rachel Browne), not to carry out her bidding.
Before seeing Riddle of Fire, I realised from certain reviews on Rotten Tomatoes that to an unusual degree this could be called a Marmite film and my guess was that I would join the ranks of those who hated it. But not so. The film opens with the kids armed with paintball guns carrying out a raid on a warehouse in quest of a video games console. This scene, handled virtually without dialogue, is a tour-de-force with full marks to Razooli and his editor (although in fact they are one and the same person since I understand that the editing credit to Anaxia actually refers to Razooli himself who also comes up again as an actor since he plays a member of the Hollyhock family!). Furthermore, the tone of the film is handled with real dexterity: the music score taken from various contributors plays a major part in this and how adeptly the only serious menace from guns comes from characters like Redrye while the more threatening actions of the kids are kept in line by the fact that their weapons are only paintball guns. However, I do see why some critics felt that, in contrast to, say, Lio Tipton’s assured performance, the kids were not always that surefooted when delivering their dialogue. But, since this is in a sense a film of children at play, any limitations in that department hardly matter since they remain engaging company. There is fun too in Razooli using subtitles for Jodie’s words to ensure that they come across clearly.
Riddle of Fire is genuinely offbeat and rather charming with it, but I do, alas, have to agree with those critics who made a serious complaint about its length. Although some viewers may find it engaging when Jodie and the other kids (with Petal now won over to become one of their number) act out a big dance number, this was for me a sign that plot ideas in the second half were becoming increasingly desperate. If it were twenty minutes shorter Riddle of Fire would be a far better film. But, if it starts to splutter out, once it reaches its finale Razooli is back on form. Who cares if the ending is sentimental when Razooli impressively seizes the chance to change direction, thus ending the piece as one that in its final minutes classifies as a real foodie film.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Lio Tipton, Charles Halford, Skyler Peters, Charlie Stover, Phoebe Ferro, Lorelei Oliva Mote, Danielle Hoetmer, Weston Razooli, Andrea Browne, Rachel Browne, Xayne Alexander Christensen.
Dir Weston Razooli, Pro Sohrab Mirmont, David Al Atrakchi, Weston Razooli and Lio Tipton, Screenplay Weston Razooli, Ph Jake L.Mitchell, Pro Des Meg Cabell, Ed Weston Razooli as Anaxia, Costumes Anaxia.
Anaxia/Fulldawa Films-Icon Film Distribution.
115 mins. USA/France. 2023. US Rel: 22 March 2024. UK Rel: 7 June 2024. Cert. 12A.
