Author: Jamie Feltham / Source: VentureBeat
The fourth production from VR studio Penrose, Arden’s Wake: Tide’s Fall, is debuting at Tribeca and it touches upon well-worn territory for this team. Namely, it’s a story about the relationship between parent and child, coping with loss and, ultimately, moving on.
Heavy topics for the film’s deceptively charming visuals, true, but the studios’ growing competence in this emerging field of narrative steers the viewer through some difficult drama with aplomb.
Arden’s Wake is the story of a young girl living in a flooded world. In the first installment, Prologue, we met Meena — now voiced by Alicia Vikander of Lara Croft fame — a young girl living in an unlikely paradise with her father who carries the weight of the old world on his shoulders. When Dad is lost to the ocean, Meena breaks his golden rule and dives in after him in a rushed rescue mission that seemingly does more harm than good.
In a press release announcing the second episode, Penrose noted it wanted to bring ‘important issues to the surface’ with its storytelling. A cute pun, perhaps, but Tide’s Fall wastes little time delivering on that statement. Any preconceived notions drawn from the film’s whimsical art style are quickly tossed aside here as some harsh truths are exposed. The first scene is crucial, taking Meena back through her childhood memories…
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