The Blazing World, the fantasy thriller from writer/director Carlson Young, opens on the unfortunate drowning of a young girl while her parents and twin sister are distracted. Years later, Margaret, the surviving twin sister, still struggles with the death, the devolving relationship between her parents, and the visions of the mysterious man who appeared to her when her sister drowned. Now, believing her sister may still be alive in a different dimension, Margaret sets out in a journey of self discovery through the darkest corners of her imagination. Part Alice in Wonderland, part Coraline, part Lynchian nightmare, The Blazing World attempts to address trauma through unconventional means.

Starring Carlson Young, working on both sides of the camera, the acting is the weakest component of The Blazing World. Young is unconvincing as Margaret, the film's lead, caught in a self destructive pattern while dealing with her parent's violently crumbling marriage and the possibility of her twin sister being alive in an alternate world. Had the film been lead by a more competent actress, it may have been a more salvageable product but as it stands, Young's performance greatly hinders the overall result. Likewise, Udo Kier (Europe's answer to Nicolas Cage) sleepwalks through his line deliveries, mumbling his way to a paycheck. The only two people who seems to be attempting anything approaching decent is Dermot Mulroney and Vinessa Shaw as Margaret's parents. They're the highlights of the film as they bicker and argue their way through scenes together and show surprising depths of loneliness when in scenes with Maragaret separately.

The Blazing World is director Carlson Young's full length adaptation of her 13 minute short of the same name that premiered at Sundance in 2018. Sadly, the feature length version is a reminder that some short stories are better left as short stories. The strange riff, or maybe homage, to Alice in Wonderland is caught up in a meandering story that winds up being a bit of an incoherent mess, narratively. Young seems to be modeling the tone of the film after the works of directors like David Lynch and Terry Gilliam, but the cute camera tricks used to convey doubt or disorientation are quickly overused, turning them into more gimmicks than effective tools. Without enough story to stretch the adaptation, the film feels far longer than its 99 minute runtime suggests. Still, for all that, Young has a clear, firm vision of what she wants the film to be, I just don't think her vision matches the subject matter at hand. For a movie that's supposedly addressing untreated grief and mental health issues, the decision to attempt style over substance isn't a great idea; whether this was the trappings of a rookie director attempting to ape the works of established directors or just Young attempting to do her own thing, The Blazing World comes across as a hollow, empty foray into touching on serious issues.

Overall, The Blazing World, while noble in its intentions, falls well short of the mark on execution. Subpar acting does the film little favor as some actors struggle to work with the bad writing and some look like it might be their first time on camera. While this isn't a film to be avoided at all costs, it's not a film that should be eagerly sought out: it's a movie to queue up with friends and stiff drinks after all other movie options have been exhausted. The Blazing World is in select theaters and everywhere on demand October 15th.

Not sure what this film thought it was trying to portray. I sure as hell didn't get any sense of what this film was about. That isn't always a bad thing it's just this film annoyed because of it as felt for a first time directing that Carlson has some real directing talent. I'm sure some sort of message was meant to be portrayed, I just found the end feeling I was left with was frustrating. It was pleasing to the eye and some scenes were quite well done, the music was good too. I've no doubt that Carlson will be making some very good films in the future.

Who is this Carlson Young person ... She directed (?),wrote (?) and starred (?) in this, all of which she did embarrassingly badly ... Talk about vanity project ... She obviously has loads of money cos the technical crew were obviously trying their hardest to turn this trite little thing into a decent looking visual experience, but honestly, it thinks its deep while it is purely admiring itself in a reflection ... This gives shallow a new peak to look up to ... This may gain a following amounts the simpletons that thought "the Room" was so bad it had something to offer, rather than just being best thrown in the bin and forgotten about ... If you fancy loosing even more faith in humanity, watch this fiasco. As for the Young woman, I would suggest she sticks to acting ... In daytime soaps or teen programming.