The Call of Water is immaculately shot, filled with imagery that is at times beautiful and at times haunting. A deft hand from director Kaya Tone effectively captures the pristine natural world of the rural Colorado Rockies where it is set and shot. Of course, there is much more to the film than just its striking visuals. These images serve a story about the hold that the place you grew up has on you as well as the importance of protecting these immaculately beautiful natural resources.
“…embarks on a psychedelic journey and meets an embodiment of nature, identified as the Horned One…”
The short film uses both horror and fantasy motifs, filtered through an environmental lens, feeling almost pagan at times. Through the protagonist Nadia (Trinity Simpson), we see a world that we have strayed from, a nature we have forsaken. After a drug trip with friends, Nadia embarks on a psychedelic journey and meets an embodiment of nature, identified as the Horned One in the credits. At first a terrifying entity, Nadia eventually sees the beauty in the Horned One, and realizes her own connection to both it and the place she is fated to protect.
Whether Nadia simply hallucinates this or is able to transcend to the astral plane is open to interpretation but ultimately beside the point. Either way, she was able to achieve this higher level of understanding not with any manmade substance but by ingesting mushrooms, a vision provided by the earth.
The Call of Water is a short that wastes no time creating a dazzling landscape to behold with a meaningful story to tell. Tone is poised to be one of our great filmmakers and I look forward to more from her!
"…uses both horror and fantasy motifs, filtered through an environmental lens, feeling almost pagan at times."
