NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The human spirit is resilient. That’s the biggest lesson director Tara Miele wants audiences to take away from her new film, Wander Darkly, anyway.
The film, which opened Friday, follows Sienna Miller (American Sniper) and Diego Luna (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) forced to relive their relationship and confront their issues after a car accident leaves them trapped in a surreal state of existence between life and death.
In an exclusive interview, Miele told 1010 WINS, “I think especially right now, at the time that we happen to be releasing this film, the whole world is in a state of mourning and isolation…. I hope this movie leaves everyone feeling a bit more connected to people that they love.”
While that’s ultimately the case for our main characters, it’s not without cost or chaos.
The film abandons the traditional linear narrative structure in favor of telling the story from the perspective of a scrambled psyche. The result is a series of mind-bending visuals, in the vein of Inception, that make it just as hard for the audience to decipher what’s real and what’s not as the characters themselves.
When asked about the challenge of achieving her vision Miele said, “all of the switches between time and space required a lot of conversation.”
Shot in a mere 24 days with a small crew (and an equally small budget), Miele called the entire film, “a team effort…. Everybody was just tireless and working towards making it as elevated and surreal and beautiful and grounded as possible all at the same time.”
For a film about love and care, it’s only fitting that so much love and care went into making it.
Wander Darkly is available in select theaters and On Demand.