Sometime the best way to find something to watch is to close your eyes and point. In my case that means closing my eyes, letting my fingers go crazy all over the remote control and let it land somewhere in my Netflix. Every other week, I’m going to randomize my viewing and bring you a title straight out of the Netflix Instant recommendations. They will never be from my queue or recently watched to avoid anything I’d actually want to watch or anything I’ve already seen. Whether they be new films, old TV shows, classics or giant dog turds I’ll watch ’em and pass them along to you! So with that in mind I bring you Random Queue.
Ink is a 2009 independent sci-fi drama written and directed by Jamin Winans. After we all go to bed, the Storytellers come and bring us dreams and fantasies to make our slumber pleasant. However, at the same time the Incubi also come and bring us nightmares. That is thrown out of harmony when one night a lost soul named Ink kidnaps the soul of a little girl named Emma and whisks her away into the dream world where he hopes to trade her soul for a job as an Incubi. The Storytellers must save her and return her to life while in the real world, her body lays in a coma and her estranged father must come to terms with being the father he should be.
Ink failed to be picked up for a widespread theatrical release but caught on as it was illegally downloaded and shared on the internet. When I randomly came across it I was interested because for an independent sci-fi film it had a pretty good rating of four out of five stars on Netflix. The synopsis caught my attention and I was eager to jump into the title. After about 20 minutes of confusion, the story finally started to take shape and I began to understand what was actually going on. The quality of the effects and acting were impressive as I really didn’t have high hopes for either. The cinematography wasn’t anything to be in awe over most of the time, as it visually looked like a made for TV movie. About midway through the film it shakes off a lot of the corniness that is evident of the characters, story and writing and actually seems to take itself more seriously. By the end I was completely captivated by what was happening, even if I did call the end of the movie before it ever happened.
Ink sort of looks like something you’d expect from college students studying film. It has a decent story and even finds the effects and acting that it needs, but tends to suffer in certain areas that make it easy to pick out as an independent film. If you’re expecting a big budget sci-fi flick you will be disappointed, if you open your mind for a bit and let the movie find its pace you’ll be pleasantly surprised with Ink. There were times I was legitimately creeped out and if I had watched this at night, nightmares would surely follow. Never the less, Ink brings you into another world that eerily borders on our own and manages to entertain after the initial slowness. Check back in two weeks when I turn out another random viewing from Netflix and share my thoughts on what you may, or may not, find interesting and entertaining!
