‘Arcadian’ Review: Family Ties Reap Hope in Nicolas Cage Creature Feature | SXSW 2024

If anyone can survive the apocalypse, it’s going to be Nicolas Cage. And if anyone could do it with two babies, he’s still the best candidate. In what Cage describes as a very appealing mix between an “independent-spirited family drama” mixed with sci-fi horror, he stars as Paul, a father fighting monsters that come out at night and doing everything possible to ensure as bright a future as possible given the circumstances for his sons Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins).

Arcadian opens on Cage rummaging and running through a destroyed city with explosions, gunshots, and sirens sounding frequently, escaping to an abandoned barn to find two crying babies. What happened to get to that point is never explained, and the film immediately flashes forward fifteen years. Paul waits anxiously outside his home as the sun sets, shouting worriedly at Thomas when he arrives back too late and racing inside with his boys to fortify every exit to ensure that they can successfully make it through the next night. “Are we safe? Are we secure?” he asks. If the answer to both is yes, it’s time for dinner.

Rhythm and routine are key aspects of the way this family functions. Everything happens a certain way to make sure that there aren’t weaknesses or unprotected access points to put them in danger, and children are raised to respect boundaries and fear the consequences, not through punishment but through legitimate terror, of deviating from the carefully-prescribed plan. Thomas regularly goes to visit a neighboring farm where Charlotte (Sadie Soverall) recounts her childhood tradition of literally stretching the permissions of needing to touch a tree on her family’s property by tying a rope around her waist so she could go just a little bit further into the unknown while still technically complying with the rules.

Seeing how Paul managed to stay alive while keeping two babies healthy and well-fed in a low-resource world filled with few people would surely have been an interesting premise, though it surely wouldn’t have been quite as action-packed. That, predictably, the unknown monsters of the night cause such a ruckus at this exact point after somehow never getting close to causing real harm for a decade and a half feels quite convenient, but it’s not difficult to make that leap since this is where the characters are introduced and embellished.

Thomas and Charlotte play a game where they have ten seconds to describe what happened to forever change society, keying audiences into the fact that no one actually knows. What Arcadian lacks – perhaps purposely – in providing definitive backstory for its universe it makes up for in the creativity of its creature design. The early glimpses provided as one monster stretches itself through a small window in a door are spectacularly-revealed, both fascinating and disgusting at the same time. It’s something that needs to be seen, and remains mystifying even as more of these startling, perplexing creatures are shown throughout the film.

Director Benjamin Brewer, who previously collaborated with Cage on The Trust, benefits from a visual effects background, most recently working on another SXSW premiere, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Having an understanding of what goes into building the visual and fantastical elements of a film like this makes it much more compelling. Wondering about and watching these monsters in amazement and terror is without competition this film’s best asset, reminiscent of Annihilation and the sense of frightening curiosity its incomprehensible villains evoked.  

The big draw for those unfamiliar with Brewer’s work will definitely be Cage, who is exactly the right for this part, grittier than other candidates for post-apocalyptic action pieces like Kean Reeves, Liam Neeson, or Pedro Pascal. This is among his most serious recent performances, and it doesn’t actually ask all that much of him since he’s not really the lead. Martell, who also headlines another big SXSW premiere this year, Y2K, and Jenkins are a suitable enough pair, though good acting isn’t all that crucial to this film’s effectiveness. The standout from the cast is Soverall, infusing Charlotte with more personality than all of the men combinee and ensuring that her character feels just as relevant and dated for survival.

While physical strength is indeed important when fighting off vicious monsters, this film’s conception of manliness is more sophisticated and evolved. Early on, when Paul is trying to remind his sons of the importance of diligence and not deviating from what they’ve built, he shouts “Are we not men?” before stabbing the wooden table, something his sons repeat after him. Men in this case might be a stand-in for humans, and the scene is enhanced by Cage’s note during the SXSW Q & A that he added the line himself since it’s something his father used to do. Those personal touches and the film’s commitment to creatures elevate it from an otherwise standard variation of the all-too-familiar monster movie.

Grade: B

This review is from the 2024 SXSW Film Festival. RLJE Films will distribute Arcadian theatrically.