By Beatrix Harper, More Horror -
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about David Priors’ 2020 film ‘The Empty Man’ which has since gained a well-deserved cult (heh) following.
While a little too long and somewhat unfocused, it's not due to incompetence, lack of creativity and talent, rather along the lines trying to fit in too much all at once.
Despite being uneven, 'The Empty Man' is nevertheless a high-concept and thought-provoking movie which boosts engaging performances from the likes of James Badge Dale in the lead and Stephen Root name a few.
Hence, which brings us to the nature of this here post.
I have no intent of spoiling the film because it’s definitely one you should see for yourself... and I don’t fancy being a jerk.
Instead, I want to provide a short stream of consciousness from this misshapen mausoleum for a brain I have regarding the shadowy cult known as the Pontifex Institute, or specifically, its *name*.
- A pontifex was the paramount religious office in Ancient Rome.
- In addition to being a authoritative title, a pontifex is also a literal bridge builder.
- In Latin, ‘pons’ translates to ‘bridge’. In medical terminology, the pons refers to the connective tissue between two parts of an organ. A path between pieces of flesh, an aspect of physical existence.
- In early Greek belief, prior to the Olympian pantheon (in other words VERY FUXXING OLD), the primordial deity of the ocean was Pontus whose mother was Gaia, but had no father.
In a sense, he was created via some divine manifestation, which, in ‘The Empty Man’, serves as an integral aspect to the plot.
- In addition to being an avenue of travel in real life, various spiritual practices around the world perceive water as a gateway between worlds.
An element, a place of traversal and where existences meet in a flux neither here or there.
There is SO... sosososososo much more to unpack from this movie because of its various layers that lean heavily into the topics of belief, philosophy and all of that meaty stuff which begs for rewatches.
Also, James Badge Dale is hot.
No, that has no bearing on any of the above, I’m just a perv.
For more review goodness from Bea, follow her Letterboxd page here.