BITS 2022: Residents of Arcadia (2021)

Residents of Arcadia (2021)

Director (and writer): Dom Cutrupi

Cast: Nick Preston, Ishaval Gill, Michael Stephen Perry, Kamantha Naidoo, Stella Lai, Magalie R-Bazinet, Leslie Kwan, Claudia Absi, Mostafa Shaker, Jeremy Xu

Two successful online influencers are confronted with the appearance of a mysterious countdown on their mirrors, that threatens to reveal what’s behind their apparently perfect life. – IMDB

Residents of Arcadia plays on a future where people can be able to experience a different life. Its what brings Mira and Remo, a immigrant couple who will have their work permits expired without an extension to join this world of Arcadia. When their experience has been cut short due to their unique situation that is different from others, they start to not only scramble to find a way to stay together so that they are not separated but also soon get tipped off about certain issues that peaked their interest to investigate further about Arcadia as a whole.

The concept of living a life through avatars in a more technologically advanced future is not exactly a new concept. We’ve seen it before in Ready Player One as one of the bigger examples. However, Arcadia is a different concept and it turns into a deeper discussion about immigration and its various issues for those involved using two people with different backgrounds both struggling in their own regards. The script brings up a worthy discussion of the broken elements of the system even in the future but also, takes a dive into the world of living a perfect life and perhaps how the experience is a real vs expectations scenario when pulled out and especially Remo ends up having a great revelation from it.

The issues of Residents of Arcadia actually do lie mostly in its pacing. It feels like the premise never fully flourishes to what it could achieve. In reality, it never fully dives deep enough into the unsettling feeling of being in Arcadia and actually that segment ends fairly quickly and its back to readapting to reality. The harsh reality is good to have that sudden pull back into reality early on however, it does feel like the mystery never gets the worthy exploration as they hunt down those answers and everything seems to just fall into place.

The cast here is also relatively good. Mira and Remo played respectively by Ishaval Gill and Nick Preston are believable in their roles. Dr. Lin played by Stella Lai is actually one of the better characters in the film as a whole as she pulls all the pieces into place. The script for her character works the best to add substance but also has this part where you don’t know whether to fully believe everything she is saying as she also seems to have some kind of authority.

Overall, Residents of Arcadia is a good premise with a decent cast. The discussion point is a good angle even if its set in the future, it is still relevant. There are some flaws with pacing and just taking a step further with the mystery elements but as a whole, it delivers an enjoyable experience and leave you with a little something to ponder on.

***Residents of Arcadia will be showing at the Blood in the Snow Film Festival on November 23rd on Super Channel at 12am EST***

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