I really don't want to give away too much about this movie because I think that the thrill is uncovering what it's all about for yourself. But it's a film about a young guy that fucks off to Italy after the death of his mother, meets the girl of his dreams, and that's about it really. I mean there is something mysterious about the girl, she does seem to be developing a few unexplained rashes, and at one point she eats her pet rabbit alive but I think that's pretty normal for a holiday romance isn't it? To be honest, if I could attract a girl with quirks that tame at home I'd probably be pretty fucking chuffed with myself. Also if I could convince you to just watch this movie without knowing a single thing about it then I really would because I fucking loved it. But somehow my Snapchat name has gotten out there and I can't even convince this random gay man to stop sending me videos of himself having a wank and so I'm aware of my limited influence. I don't want to go any further but I'll say that perhaps the girl has a fairly monstrous secret and I don't mean in the way that some of the girls on Tinder are really forty-five-year old truck drivers named Clive.
But the beauty of the film is that although there might be this huge Lovecraftian element that involves slime and sharp teeth and all of that shit, that's not really what it's about at all. It's really just a love story between these two characters that are perfectly played by Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker as they mull about the gorgeous scenery of Italy. Imagine Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise if it had been co-directed by David Cronenberg and I suppose you're not a million miles away from what Spring is. But the emphasis and feel of the movie is way closer to seeing Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy fall in love over the course of a night than it is watching Jeff Goldblume's dick drop off as he vomits onto his food. Or maybe it's a bit like Gareth Edwards film Monsters in that too is about two characters connecting despite the giant tentacled creatures getting all funky in the background. In fact, Spring doesn't even require any characters outside of the main couple to show a tentacled creature getting all funky if I think about it. Not to make it sound like those weird videos online of women that have squids inside them of course, although, if that's what you're into you'll probably fucking love this movie.
The reason that I love the film, however, is because of how natural and real the characters feel with the horrific element of the movie simply being one part of their story. You could even get rid of that aspect and essentially what you're left with is a guy meeting the love of his life and then feeling like she's keeping him at a distance because of some personal shit that she's having to deal with. If that's not something that you can relate to then clearly you're not a guy that's ever tried to punch above his weight and gotten closer than you expected as the girl slowly remembers that she's better than you. In fact, this is even acknowledged as she explains her caginess as being because she's “Half undiscovered science, a bunch of confusing biochemistry, and some crazy hormones”, and that's before we know that she's not just a regular woman. Meanwhile, he makes fun of his looks by pointing out that, “most women aren't attracted to men who look like pre-teen boys”, after being shocked that she does seem interested in him. I can relate to this shock too as on the very rare occasions that things go well between me and a female I'm always aware of the likelihood that I'm going to wake up with at least one less kidney.
In fact, this central relationship between Pucci and Hilker's characters is so completely authentic that you wouldn't even know that there's anything strange in this movie until the second act kicks in and even then it's only fleeting shots to ease it into the story. For the most part, you're just watching two people having to deal with their own existential problems whilst slowly falling for each other. When asking about his grief for his dead mother Hilker's character claims, “even if you don't believe in a higher power you get mad at one” which could easily be her attitude for her own situation. Don't think that this is a film of two halves in the way that From Dusk Till Dawn gear crunches from a crime movie into a vampire film with all the subtlety of a brick to the balls, though. Spring mixes its romantic coming of age genre with its horror genre so perfectly that you barely notice that something new has been created. Kind of like how porn before the internet was one thing and bushes were something completely different and yet when they were combined you ended up with something that just felt so natural and right. In fact, Benson and Moorhead's film has left such an impression on me that if I didn't have the internet to tell you to watch it then I'd definitely be leaving copies of it in the bushes for the next people to discover themselves too. Thanks for reading, motherfuckers, and see you next time.
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