"Riddle of Fire" - Film Review
Remember being ten years old and creating mischief with your best friends? You’d ride on your bikes as far as your legs could take you. In your head, you were far away from suburban reality and you were fully existing in a land of make believe. There was simple, attainable magic to be found when it was just you, your friends, and the endless days of summer. It was freedom, and Riddle of Fire manages to capture that feeling of youthful impossible possibilities.
courtesy of tiff
Described as a neo-fairytale, Riddle of Fire follows Hazel (Charlie Stover), Alice (Phoebe Ferro), and Jodie (Skyler Peters), three kids who refer to themselves as the Three Immortal Reptiles. Together they run wild through the forests of Wyoming, riding dirt bikes on quests of their own creation. Their top priority is securing the latest video game, and they’re successful, but run into another issue: a password-protected television. Hazel and Jodie’s mom agrees to give them the password, but only if they venture to Celia’s Bakery to get her a blueberry pie. This small request turns into the beginning of a wild adventure through dark woods filled with poachers, witches, fairies, and more.
Riddle of Fire harkens back to the childhood adventure movies of the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. There has been a distinct lack of films and TV shows made for this audience age – too old for cartoons and still a little too young for the more intense PG-13 flicks. Where is the Goonies for this generation? Catch That Kid? Agent Cody Banks? There’s something missing, and it’s movies that put adolescent preteens in the middle of the action. Riddle of Fire seeks to remedy that with three scrappy kids who turn a small errand into a fantastical adventure. It’s the exact just-off-reality story that ignites a fire in the viewer. It’s a long summer vacation, where every single day brings something new and exciting. Where friendship is eternal and legends never die.
courtesy of tiff
The only issue with Riddle of Fire is its length. At almost two hours, it’s asking a lot of younger audiences to stay involved and interested. And it lacks a sense of complexity to fully justify its runtime to older viewers. Riddle of Fire exists between these two worlds. It’s both a nostalgic fever dream for adults and youthful escapism for children, but by straddling both worlds, it’s missing something necessary. That’s not to say that the journey wasn’t worthwhile. Riddle of Fire was shot on 16mm film, which magnificently captures the haziness of yesteryear and the dreamy, rich, bold colors of youth. Despite the modern technology the characters use, the film feels like it was plucked from the memory of a parallel universe.
Riddle of Fire has all the makings of a cult classic. The kids are delightful weirdos who speak like they’re in a Wes Anderson movie, but look like they just walked out of a Harmony Korine flick. Riddle of Fire is audacious, vibrant, and alive. Even if it gets a little lost in the forest, the journey and the friends made along the way sure are worth it.
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