Fingers review: Arrow Video Frightfest just got weird with Juan Ortiz’s quirky comedy.
Fingers
Fingers opens with Jeremy Gardner clad in a panda mask, jazz hand dancing in the middle of a dark road. This surreal opening is simply a tame sign of what is to follow. Strap in, you’re in for one heck of a ride. If you like your films darkly comedic and of a quirky nature then director Juan Ortiz has just the film for you.
Not much can really be shared about the plot here, as Fingers is one of those films that you have to go into as cold as possible. What we can say, is that the film follows Amanda (Sabina Friedman-Seitz), an office manager with an unmanageable fear of anyone who is different in appearance. After one of her employees arrives at work missing a pinkie finger, Amanda begins a spiral that changes her life forever.
Fingers
The plot is, in all honesty, completely insane. Things will happen that you’ve likely never seen before, and characters say and do things so absurd that you might find yourself double-checking your beverage to make sure that they don’t contain any hallucinogens. To counteract the cartoonish plot, Ortiz keeps the camerawork and colour palette relatively naturalistic. Were he to go as mad as the rest of the film, it would likely induce seizures. There’s a nice juxtaposition of the frenetic zany actions unfolding against a relatively normal setting. They work well together to create their own little world and, in many ways, Fingers feels like a comic book come to life.
If The Greasy Strangler is your cup of tea then you’ll simply love Fingers and all its quirky charm. If not, you might be left a tad befuddled. Either way, the zany antics, and melodramatic performance will easily while away ninety minutes.
Fingers was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest 2019.
