From the very outset of Weston Razooli’s Riddle of Fire, I found myself immediately taken by its idiosyncratic charm. Gorgeous Utah landscapes pair nicely to the evocative score, which sets the stage for a literal fairy tale opening. Appearing in gorgeous typeface is a riddle that sounds pulled out of your favorite storybook. And just when we think that this film will take the form of a contemporary fantasy adventure, Razooli playfully rips the carpet out from under his viewer for something far more grand and exciting. There’s a fair amount of fantastical ideas at play in Riddle of Fire, but this film extends far beyond mystical realms found in the pages of fantasy tales.
We meet three children, Hazel, Jodie, and Alice. They’re a trio that go by the name of “The Three Immortal Reptiles.” From the sound of their revving dirt bikes and the paintball guns they carry on their backs, you know they’ve found themselves in trouble more than a few times. But as tough as their introduction is, you immediately begin chuckling at their pre-quest antics. And from there, the charm doesn’t stop. What begins as a fantasy film turns into a brief heist with some futuristic tech, before steeping itself right back into the whimsy of a whole new adventure. Before the title card reveals itself (which looks unbelievably cool), we are treated to a prelude of what Razooli’s film has to offer.
Riddle of Fire feels like a cross between the best parts of Stand by Me, and the beauty that came with playing Skyrim for the first, or fifteenth, time. As I wrote earlier, the music in this film really does ground you in a very comforting feeling. But of course, it’s also the gorgeous 16mm photography. The very look and sound of this film is meant to distill in you a sense of timelessness. We can all look back to those days as a kid, running around with friends creating the most imaginative stories possible to pass the long summer hours. Every day we woke up with nothing to do. It was a day full of adventure and excitement. Of course, most kids, myself included, would have been just as happy, if not moreso, staying in and playing whatever brand new video game they recently got. And that’s exactly how Hazel, Jodie, and Alice feel. After getting their hands on the latest gaming console, the last few days of summer vacation have been spoken for. They set the table in front of them with snacks and sodas, prepare their gaming outfits and couch positioning, and get ready for the experience of a lifetime. Only there’s a password on the TV and Hazel’s mom is sick in bed, refusing to reveal it. It’s in the following sequence that Razooli so succinctly depicts what makes this film both charming and relatable.
Children are incredibly funny in just about anything they do. They’re tiny people, usually going about their lives with a singular focus. If they want to do something, they will do anything and everything they physically can to achieve that goal. They’re driven! But in an always humorous way, they’re rarely subtle. The trio bring two separate glasses of water and tea to mom upstairs, and with soft-spoken demeanor, check in on how she’s feeling. And then, at least in their minds, the children ever so softly broach the subject of the TV password. You can see the thought in each of their eyes; every second spent talking to or listening to mom is one less for gaming. They resort to bargaining with mom, who insists that they go out and enjoy the outdoors. A whole day of planned gaming is whittled down to two hours, but not until they bring home a delicious blueberry pie; a remedy for the bad cold mom has. And thus, Riddle of Fire sets our heroes off on one of their many fetch quests. A simple task becomes broken up into a series of smaller ones, all in search of the great reward. Not treasure, or glory, but of simply enjoying all the freedom and excitement a new video game has to offer. Razooli’s film is able to capture one of the key reasons why a game like Skyrim is so entertaining, merely by the inclusion of a basic game mechanic.
In the case of lesser films or video games, watching or playing a character bounce from location to location in search of something becomes grating. We simply want to get on with the rest of the story. But in Riddle of Fire, it’s such fun. Primarily because Razooli is able to capture these really authentic performances from the lead children. Oftentimes it feels completely natural, if not for the occasional inclusion of magic or technology not yet invented. What Riddle of Fire does so well is that it’s able to literalize the imaginative journeys a child will take when doing something they’re actively dreading. The kids are only able to not lose their minds completely from lack of video games by turning an otherwise simple request into something far more grand and enticing. It captures the way in which children can see the world for the imaginative and wondrous potential our lives could have on a regular basis. And it’s upon one of the final sequences that we’re left really contemplating what the driving force of Riddle of Fire, and this set of children, really is.
In this final sequence, you might find yourself surprisingly emotional like this writer did. Without delving too deeply into plot details, the kids end dancing along to “Baby Come Back” in the hopes of completing their quest. As each member of the group reluctantly finds themselves on stage, Razooli presents his audience with a striking reminder: these are just kids. Throughout Riddle of Fire, we’re never made to feel our heroes are more grown up than they actually are. The innate humor of the film relies on the very opposite. But the ways in which they take each new development in stride and refuse to give up may present a sense of, if not maturity, aged resiliency and determination. But on that stage, all inhibitions are let loose in favor of movement that can only be described as deeply chaotic. And personally, while there seems to be no rhyme or reason to any of the movements being made by these children, it invoked such a feeling of nostalgia that I became teary-eyed. It unlocked memories that were hidden far away, harkening back to a time where you could simply do whatever your heart and body commanded and it would be totally understandable. Much of Riddle of Fire is laugh-out-loud funny, but this sequence is perhaps the most telling about what Razooli’s film sets out to achieve: it hopes that we’ll yearn for the simple days of childhood adventures without abandon. When there was nothing better than being around your friends with the simple goal of enjoying the day in your mind. For at such a young age, we might not be searching for the ways in which we can make the rest of our lives, or even the rest of the summer, the most entertaining. As kids, we’re just living on a day to day basis. And every day we woke up was the opportunity for a brand new adventure to take place. And that’s a beautiful thing we can hopefully all carry with us.
Riddle of Fire is opening in select theaters on March 22.