First Winter (2012)

First Winter: Directed by Benjamin Dickinson. With Samantha Jacober, Jennifer Kim, Lindsay Burdge, Haruka Hashimoto. During a winter of record-breaking cold; an apocalyptic blackout strands a group of Brooklynites in a remote farmhouse. At first it’s a party of sex; drugs; and yoga. But as supplies dwindle; they turn against one another.

“More u0026quot;whisperu0026quot; than u0026quot;shoutu0026quot;, this worthwhile film, that I saw at the Woodstock (N.Y.) Film Festival, is a story about strong issues (sexual influence, narcotic drug usage, and survival when the outside world doesnu0026#39;t exist) but done in an intimate look at emotions, with lots of closeup camera work, during a relatively short span of time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRather than being a big budget apocalyptic multi character visual orgy, this almost biographical film looks at a narrow range of characters- it conveniently even pares down the total number of characters early in the film- with just an on location set of a multi room farm house interior and the snow covered surrounding countryside, and how one person relates to one person, within the commune dynamic.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film doesnu0026#39;t invite complexity, ignoring the u0026quot;baggageu0026quot; of the future or the past, but for the few months that the filmu0026#39;s actions portray- it is about depicting individual traits and conflicts within a subservient cult hierarchy. u0026quot;Can we all get alongu0026quot;, referring to a broad incident of an entirely different societal issue, is perhaps, in this small independent film, reflected in the ending- food will be found, Yoga continues to be practiced, music will be played, the commune will survive.”