“Invention” Blends Fact & Fiction to Mesmerizing Results
Grief is a funny, funny thing that hits us when we least expect it and manifests in ways we could never imagine. This emotion is the heart of Courtney Stephens’ Invention, a strange, experimental hybrid of reality and fiction. It’s the second film co-writer and actor Callie Hernandez has shot on location in a home she rented in rural northeastern United States. It’s the same place The True Beauty of Being Bitten By a Tick, which premiered at SXSW this year, was filmed. Despite the shared location, Invention is something wholly its own, an exploration of loss and what comes next.
Neurotika Haus &Jacket Weather
Carrie Fernandez (Hernandez) has just lost her father and is tasked with sorting through all the paperwork from his estate. She learns that he was in debt when he died and that some of the investors in his work have a claim to his estate. What Carrie has inherited is the patent for an odd medical device that her father invented. It’s experimental and was recalled by the FDA, so its future is in legal limbo and it sits in a closet in the house Carrie must sell. She spends her days visiting the locals who knew her dad or invested in his business.
Invention has some basis in reality. Hernandez’s real-life father passed away in the fall of 2021 and was an alternative health doctor. He’s seen in the film in archival footage of the various television appearances he made from the ’90s through 2020. While this isn’t the only aspect of Invention that begins to blur the lines of reality, it is one of the most compelling, open-hearted aspects of the film. Carrie’s on-screen grief comes from a true place, and that begs the question, how much of what we are seeing is real? Does it matter if the grief we’re seeing is based on a loss that actually occurred?
Neurotika Haus &Jacket Weather
The hazy truth that exists in Invention is intoxicating. There’s a lilting, lulling nature to the film that’s led by Hernandez’s stoic, yet deadpan, performance. She’s almost ghostlike in the way she moves through spaces unfamiliar to her, yet so intrinsically tied to her existence. Carrie has her guard up, but the moments she lets herself be free are euphoric. The openness of Hernandez’s performance perhaps comes from her closeness to the project, but even without knowing this film is based in some sort of reality, the audience can feel the honesty radiating from Hernandez.
Invention plays with the nature of truth and whether or not it matters in the world of storytelling. While it’s an experimental blend of narrative storytelling and documentary, it’s not isolating to those who prefer strictly linear films. Perhaps experimental isn’t the right way to describe Invention. It’s more experiential than anything else, a feeling that washes over the audience as the film plays out in front of them. As much as it’s about loss, the underlying narrative is about humanity’s inherent need for belonging and wellness and the way we constantly search for answers to our pain, suffering, and joy through myriad solutions. Invention, as dreamy as it is, paints a picture of our current state of affairs. The widespread loneliness epidemic that was born from the worldwide health pandemic is wreaking havoc on everyone, and Invention is one mesmerizing way of processing it.
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