Overwhelm the Sky

2019
2h 50m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

"An Existential Epic Neo-Noir," loosely adapted from Charles Brockden Brown's 1799 novel Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, Overwhelm the Sky tells the story of Edgar "Eddie" Huntly,... Read all"An Existential Epic Neo-Noir," loosely adapted from Charles Brockden Brown's 1799 novel Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, Overwhelm the Sky tells the story of Edgar "Eddie" Huntly, an east coast radio personality who moves to San Francisco to marry Thea, the sister of h... Read all"An Existential Epic Neo-Noir," loosely adapted from Charles Brockden Brown's 1799 novel Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, Overwhelm the Sky tells the story of Edgar "Eddie" Huntly, an east coast radio personality who moves to San Francisco to marry Thea, the sister of his best friend Neil, a successful entrepreneur. Shortly before Eddie's arrival, Neil is fo... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews2

7.848

Featured reviews

2westsideschl

Underwhelmed

Black & white; usually an indicator of someone making a cheap artsy noir film w/usually lots of nonsensical dialogue meant to obscure but still allow interpretation so viewers feel special. Lots of flashbacks of the same scene of a body lying on the ground in a forest. Why? Who knows. Lots of flashbacks that add nothing to a story of someone who is a radio talk show host. A chance encounter w/a homeless & a desert scene all bizarrely go nowhere.

Important point: Do we really have so much time & money that we ignore serious planetary issues to spend it on musings?

9mikeygsmith

Crucial viewing for anyone interested in independent film

Overwhelm the Sky, a 3-hour microbudget mystery-drama shot in gorgeous black-and-white 'Scope, is the best of the three features I have seen by San Francisco-based filmmaker Daniel Kremer (though I liked the other two of his that I've seen, Raise Your Kids on Seltzer and Ezer Kenegdo, quite a bit). It might even be a masterpiece. The earlier films are loose and wild, but Overwhelm the Sky, even while considerably longer, feels the tightest and shortest. If anything, this is one instance when a long movie could have stood being even longer (in particular, I would have loved seeing more of the intriguing character played by Alanna Blair). The plot involves a radio talk-show host being sent down a series of Existential rabbit holes after the murder of a friend whose body is discovered in Golden Gate Park. The ambitious Kremer has long been working in undeserved obscurity at the relative fringes of the indie film scene -- he is currently working on his eighth feature-length film -- but I'm hoping that Overwhelm the Sky, which had its World Premiere at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival in 2019, is a game-changer for him.

The filmmaking is so confident that it's astonishing: The paranoid atmosphere and discordant orchestral score put me in the mind of early Jacques Rivette, but the formal control, perfectly calibrated camera movements, always surprising but ineffably right compositions, and precision of the cutting, put me in the mind of (believe it or not) Paul Thomas Anderson. There were parts where I had no clue what was going on on a narrative level, but I didn't really care because I was so caught up in how masterful the filmmaking was, and therefore felt I was in good enough storytelling hands that I trusted I could just wallow in the mystery of it all. It feels like the kind of film that will reveal more of its mysteries with subsequent viewings, but probably also isn't a puzzle with one ultimate "solution." It also features the best acting of any of the three films of Kremer's that I've seen. Whereas it seems he works a great deal with improvisation in his films, this one feels more scripted (yet I recently learned that his same improvisatory methods were used). Crucial viewing for anyone with an interest in independent film.

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Trivia
The film is dedicated to Oscar-winning production designer Paul Sylbert, a mentor of director Daniel Kremer. He died just weeks before Overwhelm the Sky went into production, in November 2016. Sylbert, who designed sets for A Face in the Crowd (1957), The Wrong Man (1956), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), among others, taught at Kremer's alma mater Temple University in Philadelphia towards the end of his life (Temple was also Sylbert's alma mater), and Kremer was his teaching assistant for many years.

Quotes
Dean Van Puddy: You say hypocrisy... absolutely! You're darn tooting! Hypocrisy! It's the latest fad. It's what the cool kids are into now, right? Let's not kid ourselves. We've gone from liberte egalite fraternite, to vanite letharge hypocrise. But in the words of Lord Byron, "Let us have wine, women, mirth, and the laughter / Sermons and soda water the day after." And on that note, I'll leave you stewing into the night. So... so so so, off I go. When I'm coming back, nobody knows. Where I'm going, I kind of know. But I'm going to leave you in good hands, because my very good friend Edgar Huntly will be taking over this program. He had his own show in New York called "Talk is Cheap" - I think many of you may have heard it. Edgar, say hi to the angry insomniacs.
Edgar Huntly: Greetings, angry insomniacs. I look forward to spending more time with you.
Dean Van Puddy: There you have it folks. That's a taste of what's to come. This is Dean Van Puddy signing off. You've been listening to Fallen Territory.

Alternate versions
There are three cuts of this film. The first (177 minutes) is the "Roadshow-Style Edition" which opens with an Overture and includes an Intermission with Entr'acte music. The second (170 minutes) is the Standard Version which excludes the Overture and Intermission, and deletes two dramatic scenes from the body of the film, including an extra "cushion scene" between the intermission and part two. The third (124 minutes) is the Shortened Theatrical Cut, which streamlines the narrative into a simpler neo-noir. The latter version is not director Daniel Kremer's preferred cut and he prepared it for the sole purpose of making the film easier to program at American festivals.