It’s interesting to note that, when you think of the many different types of found “footage films” there are out there, some of the most obvious ideas are often overlooked. Take BODY & SOUL for instance, a film that presents itself as a television show that follows police officers on duty. It’s been done, sure, but not as often as you’d think. I can see an obvious issue, and that’s because of the cost of looking like an officer, and the concerns of people really thinking you WERE one. That may not be the big issue for everyone, but I can see where it’d be a consideration.
As I mention all the time, it’s fascinating how many ways you can make a cake, and all of the ways can be valid, and can work, it just depends on what you are trying to make.
BODY & SOUL is presented as the footage of a television program following police officers on patrol. The footage cuts between officers, as they interact with the public. During the course of evening one officer calls in another as backup on a driver he has pulled over. He wants to be able to keep, and eye on the man, while also looking him up in the system. While the two officers are discussing things the driver runs off into the woods, and the two men follow, with the camera person close behind. During the chase the camera feed is lost, and now we are being presented with footage that has been recovered, and not shown live. As the officers get deeper into the woods, and away from a signal to the outside world, they realize that, along with being lost, they are also not alone in the woods, and something is very, very wrong out there.
The film has a very easy concept that works well at first. The hardest part to nail, it would seem, comes easy, and that’s the interactions with the public. That stuff works wonderfully. It’s only when the film moves into the woods – those darn woods again! – when things go off the rails. With no story to speak of, we’re left with two bickering men, who refuse to come together, or really amicably work together, even as things go south. Things begin to happen, to ratchet up the tension, but it’s still disconnected from anything else, so there’s nothing to ground it. When the movie finally shows its hand, it’s with about fifteen minutes left, a habit a LOT of these films have, and by the time it’s all over, we never have any answers to anything.
The acting is generally fine, especially since I’d wager a lot of it is improv, or borderline so. The first part of the film works well, and shows a lot of promise, but when it devolves into another running through the woods film, there’s just nothing to say. And when we see the twist, we’ve seen that sort of thing before and, without any reason for it, or depth to it, it’s just painting by numbers.
There are a lot of interesting ideas here, and a lot of promise, and I will hope that with a little more polish, they could have something special in the future.
1.75 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 