directed by Gregory and Maria Pearse
Pure Flame
Productions
U.S.A. 2002
Review by Gary Tooze
I can hear the anonymous masses' cry's now; "Artsy... weird... what does it all
mean?"
Independent
filmmakers Gregory and Maria Pearse have created a deeply personal examination
of the inner soul-searching of their lives in the film "Return to Light".
Strongly representative of artistic films, the Pearse's unabashedly show daring
conviction and desire while expressing
themselves in the medium of film.
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With a segment of the film
focusing on black and white newsreel-type footage of the atrocities of World War
II, I recognized major influences from Andrei Tarkovsky (horses, wind in the
forest, flashbacks to historical events ala
'Mirror' ) and also Armenian director Sergei Parajanov.
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Without going into detail, the 1hour 37 minutes long exploration touches upon past life experience, conversing from beyond the grave and exploration for the Holy Grail. This is a gentle, warm film, with wonderful music including Wagner, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky. It would be foolish to suggest that this film is for everyone, especially those immersed in the self-gratification of Hollywood blockbusters. But if you are open enough ( and believe me, you have to be open-minded) you just might benefit from "Return to Light". Personally I enjoyed it and may have a repeat viewing in the not-too-distant future.
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I can't help but applaud efforts like this and commend their conviction and sincerely hope that they offer more like-minded cinema to their fans in the near future. Understanding as little of film as I do, I can certainly respect the amount of effort it takes to create such a vision, but my greatest admiration is in their ability to bare their souls and inner-most feelings on screen. Although I don't know them , I suspect that Gregory and Maria are two very lovely, warm and intelligent people. This film is your opportunity to meet them.
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Gregory and Maria run the website:
http://www.cinemaseekers.com
formerly known as 'The
Questers'. I thank them for sending me this VHS and although I find it
impossible to critique something so personal and artistic, I will still try and
give it my full support and a rating of 
.
