Directed by Texas filmmaker, David Lowry, St. Nick is a haunting and powerful exploration of childhood innocence and adventure.
An 11 year-old brother and his 9 year-old sister have run away from home, and must find ways to survive and amuse themselves. The film centers on the time they spend sharing an abandoned house, creating a makeshift home through scavenging furniture and linens (even a bicycle), and boobytrapping the front door to alert them to intruders. They steal the food they need, and there is an absurdly lovely and hilarious scene where the young girl assembles a multi-layered peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich which ridiculously teeters and oozes as she attempts to negotiate its consumption. The two siblings drift through their days exploring the neighborhood, until they are once again driven out into the harsh elements when discovered by the home's belligerent owner (played by Barlow Jacobs).
St. Nick is reminiscent of the 1973 Spanish film, The Spirit of the Beehive, in its absolute commitment to telling the story from a child's perspective on the world. Both the young actors offer wonderfully moving and honest performances; a testament to both their talent and Lowry's direction. With very little dialogue, and scene after scene of breathtaking cinematography, St. Nick often touches on qualities of a modern fairy-tale as the two travel a hard road with transcendent innocence.
The film never answers why the children ran away from their suburban home, and the director was adamant in his intention to preserve the story's integrity through focusing on the how instead of the why.
In the Q & A session following the screening, David Lowry came off as a very reflective and emotionally driven director. When asked why he named the film "St. Nick", he replied that "It just felt right". He only later discovered the rather serendipitous nature of his title selection, after learning that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children.
St. Nick is austere, beautiful, and a fantastic piece of filmmaking. Please go see it, if you have the chance.
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