Most articles I have read about Spring have mentioned the difficulty in pinning down what genre of film it is. Firstly, it does not belong in the horror genre - in the mainstream sense. Spring is, put simply, a modern gothic fairytale. The premise of the film is as follows: a down-and-out young man flees America to Italy for a while after getting into a sticky situation. There, he meets a gorgeous Italian girl who is not all that she seems. To go any further is to spoil crucial details.

The film as a whole somehow feels... "off". In most cases, this would condemn a film to mediocrity, or a frustrating waste of potential. With Spring, this "offness" is a part of the film's tone, which arguably plays a bigger part than the actual plot. The story itself fades into the background as the interactions between the main characters take the forefront, moving through the beautiful town Polignano a Mare.

When discussing Polignano a Mare, one has to give credit where credit is due - namely, the cinematography by Aaron Moorhead. Capturing the beauty of the city is what struck me first, but it was the drone footage that really stood out. At a time where timelapses and drone footage dominate Vimeo, it's fresh and impressive when someone uses a technique that is oversaturated in the amateur world of the internet and breathes life back into the possibilities of the gear (especially considering what sort of gear it was). The tracking shots are clear and simple, like in this example:

A drifting sense is created in the film through numerous examples of such stabilised handheld camerawork, aiding in constructing a dense atmosphere. When the main characters interact, however, the editing is much simpler, allowing the actors to have room to interact. It's always pleasant to see a man realistically reacting to an Italian beauty coming onto him by becoming instantly suspicious, rather than instantly pliant.

Like with most stories, the effect of them weaken once the reveal comes around, and Spring is not exempt to this unfortunate commonality. The final act goes on for a bit too long, with a bit too much exposition, but the final shot brings the film to a satisfying close.