Dylan Dreher wears many hats in his short film, Fate’s Game. He directed, wrote, edited, designed the set, animated and colour graded himself. Oh, and he also made the puppets. The film is immediately arresting both because of its immense visual appeal and because we very quickly sense that this isn’t the children’s fairy tale it first appears to be.
The film begins innocently enough. We hear a harpsichord and a tale about a land ravaged by plague. Mother, and daughter Julia live in the forest. The narrator, speaking in rhyme, tells a sad tale about Julia’s ardent desire for a game of chess, and her mother’s unwillingness to play. Julia eventually agrees to help her mother with the chores, but her mother never yields and still won’t play chess. Julia, disappointed, falls asleep. After a night of strange and foreboding dreams, Julia wakes to find her mother ill. She heads out looking for help, despite the danger. Eventually she runs across a wretched looking rat, who claims to be the Plague, or Death himself. If Julia wins, the creature promises to save the entire nation by lifting the plague. If she loses, she and her mother will be Plague’s slaves, dying slow lingering deaths. Julia, who wanted nothing more than a game of chess in the first places, agrees to Plague’s terms.
The true identity of the rat creature is never entirely clear. But, as we learn from the title, Fate might be the best name for him. And telling a story about fate against the backdrop of a medieval plague and the game of chess is a great move. This is a world where there appear to be rules, but where Fate is both in control and totally inscrutable. For one thing, we learn that the plague is ravaging the countryside, but also that if Julia and her mother stay inside, they won’t get sick. We expect Julia to break this rule and strike out into the wider world in annoyance when her mother won’t pay chess with her. But Julia is a good girl and stays home. But, in direct contraction to the rule, Julia’s mother gets sick anyways. Later, the plague/rat lays out rules of his own: if Julia wins, he’ll lift the plague and if she loses, she becomes a slave. But, if it wasn’t already obvious, the game does not go according to plan.
In a world where we often hear that ‘everything happens for a reason’ Fate’s Game takes us back to a more ancient understanding of fate – or perhaps a more modern one. The ancient Greek concept of fate, or moira, was totally unpredictable and inescapable. Everything happened for a reason, but that reason might be that you’d gotten the attention of some god who’d decided to toy with you, or skin you alive (see the story of Marsyas). Another, more recent view of fate is perhaps best exemplified by Camus’ book, La Peste, or The Plague. In this work, the plague comes and goes despite man’s attempt to interfere with its course. Fate, here, is, again, inscrutable. It doesn’t play by rules, and mankind can’t do anything about it. The type of fate we find in Dreher’s film is like the one we find in Camus or ancient Greek myth.
In the Christian Middle Ages, in which this film is set, there was supposed to be some order in the world. One could defeat Death and live eternally by accepting Christ and avoiding sin. Julia is, after all, a good girl, and we’d expect her to triumph. The plague may come and the plague may go, but it may or may not have anything to do with Julia, or the rules set out by the Death Rat. All these elements combine to make Fate’s Game a delightfully twisted fairy tale.
To come back to the surface, the animation in this film is wonderful. The beady eyes are remarkably emotive in Julia and her mother. The pupil-less eyes of Death are equally creepy. The narrator’s voice, earnest, but concealing a dark cynicism, is perfect for this film. In a world dominated by CGI, it is refreshing to see a return to this kind of stop motion animation.
Fate’s Game is available to rent or buy on Vimeo.
By: Darida Rose
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.