Sundance 2021 Film Review: Prisoners of the Ghostland
Sion Sono and Nicolas Cage collide in the unhinged and colorful Prisoners of the Ghostland
A refreshing respite from a festival full of heavier fare, Japanese auteur Sion Sono forms a marriage of his cult sensibilities with the American master of cult performances: Nicolas Cage. A whirlwind of wild violence, candy-colored dystopia, and a plot light on logic but heavy with style, Prisoners of the Ghostland is a cult classic in the making. Contributor Valerie Thompson reviews the film as part of our Sundance coverage. Minor spoilers ahead…
Twenty years from now, we’ll be out somewhere and see a marquee listing Prisoners of the Ghostland as the midnight movie. Cult classics have to be born somewhere, and it just so happens that this strange birth came during the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Among the more serious fare of this festival’s selections, this Sion Sono project screened like a breath of fresh air for those weary from a long week. An unapologetic film with nothing to say and no moral high ground to preach, Prisoners emphasizes pure chaotic bliss, surrounded by its filmmaker’s signature flair.
Hero (Nicolas Cage), a bank robber caught after a botched stickup spills innocent blood, is brought in to find the daughter (Sofia Boutella) of a mysterious man known only as The Governor (Bill Moseley). But in this irradiated cartoon wasteland, his journey to get the job done and possibly earn his own freedom is far from assured. Along the way, Hero faces the “demons” from his heist gone awry, all the while dealing with an explosive suit and a host of colorful characters with their own agendas. It’s a race against time that encompasses supernatural elements and dark humor before reaching an action packed finale.
With a reputation for picking roles well beyond the standard actor’s wheelhouse, no modern movie star has dictated the cult classic status of the genre films he stars in quite like Nicolas Cage. For his role in Prisoners of the Ghostland, Cage takes on a jaded figure sentenced to wallow in his own moral malaise, and Sono isn’t afraid of using his star’s action hero reputation against him - it’s a flawed character because it has to be, a protagonist whose shattered moral compass abets a gonzo journey through both the light and the dark. Keeping Hero balanced between neuroses, fear, confusion, and even arousal, the esteemed director finds Prisoner’s most entertaining beats in subverting the machismo typically found in dystopian fare: Sono adds a very twisted male gaze that features Cage wearing almost nothing and dealing with comments about his penis size by a group of female wasteland inhabitants, and one of the film’s best moments has our so-called hero faced with losing a piece of his manhood, literally. Further skewering the male hero trope, Sono also introduces a gut-bustingly absurd sequence with an under-sized bicycle that removes any thoughts that alpha male posturing will rule this narrative.
“An unapologetic film with nothing to say and no moral high ground to preach, Prisoners emphasizes pure chaotic bliss, surrounded by its filmmaker’s signature flair”
For the antagonist, the filmmaker wisely goes with industry veteran Bill Moseley to provide a scenery-chewing counterpoint. Dressed in white, the veteran character actor - known for his work in films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - soaks in the atmosphere. The details around him seem to only fuel his performance, allowing him to provide a barrage of total villainy, and Moseley seems like he has the full support of Sono to either go big or go home. The realization of what The Governor has created in his Samurai Town only serves as a statement towards his character: Blood soaked streets blend into the backdrop as outlandish cowboy henchmen do his bidding under the glare of nondescript neon; citizens of the town act subservient to his whims, even as their loved ones suffer various levels of pain and misfortune; and small cages hold the women who have been unfortunate enough to catch his passing fancy.
Character motivations are almost non-existent within Prisoners of the Ghostland - Cage’s Hero and Moseley’s The Governor perhaps get the most shading, but even then they’re nothing more than mouthpieces for exposition and camp dialogue. But none of that really matters in Sono’s colorfully realized world, teetering between its neon tones and harsh, deserted landscapes. And among this arid wasteland, Cage meets up with his co-star Sofia Boutella. Housed among the remains of shattered mannequins, the introduction to Boutella’s Bernice is characteristically thin yet full of fascinating subtext; it’s a striking performance that hints at a touching interiority in a film that rarely has room for it. Watching Prisoners, there’s much in the moment that’s light on sense or logic, but it should be noted that one of the film’s biggest twists finds a way to bring together many of the story’s establishing details - as well as its characters - into one very neat package. There’s a method to Sono’s madness, you just have to be on its wavelength.
When it comes to a film like this, especially when Sono is involved, the natural question turn to the nature of violent spectacle. Fans who enjoyed films such as Why Don’t You Play in Hell? should feel right at home with Prisoners’ level of depravity, even if the actual fight sequences are few and far between. Action may not be as plentiful as in the director’s prior filmography - only really reaching their peak towards the end of the film - but the final sequence really puts everything to the test with Sono reaching for some old standbys. If anything, the purpose of leaving it all until the end serves to heighten the tension surrounding a ticking clock, those left behind, and weird worlds colliding together. It’s the stuff that cult classics are made of, even if we have to wait for that midnight showing.
