Riddle of Fire

Before three youngsters, Alice (Phoebe Ferro), Hazel (Charlie Stover) and Jodie (Skyler Peters), are allowed to play a games console that they’ve stolen, they’re sent on an errand by the boys’ poorly mother to fetch a blueberry pie in exchange for the password she put on the television. With fairytale-esque chapter titles and a euphoric high fantasy score, the opening scenes of writer-director Weston Razooli’s Riddle of Fire is best described as a medieval-flavoured Goonies. However, the magic is soon dispelled when the adventurers run into a family of witchy poachers who call themselves The Enchanted Blade Gang not long into the runtime. With a plot detour taking them into the forest, the script gives the impression that it’s making things up as it goes along without delivering much in the way of whimsy.

There is an odd strangeness to this film. From the poachers’ own quest to capture a mountain spirit, a collection of oddball characters who’d be right at home in Twin Peaks, and the youngest of the protagonists being subtitled, Razooli’s debut is filled with all sorts of quirks. It’s even shot on 16mm film to give it a nostalgic home movie aesthetic. There are times when these stylistic choices pay off, with one endearing dance number towards the end restoring some of the feel-good charm. Most of the time, though, these peculiarities come across as plain awkward.

It doesn’t help that the performances aren’t great across the board. Line deliveries range from wooden to scenery chewing, with none of it feeling natural. Directing children is no easy task, but here the young performers’ inexperience is on full display, and the adults don’t fare much better either.

Adding to the frustration is that the filmmaker underuses its fantasy angle. Despite containing magic and genre-appropriate titles, there’s nothing particularly fantastical about this quest to get a blueberry pie. A lot of ideas have been thrown together in creating Riddle of Fire and, while some work better than others, the result is an underwhelming fairytale outing.

Andrew Murray

Riddle of Fire is released digitally on demand on 8^th July 2024.

Watch the trailer for Riddle of Fire here: