'The Film Lost to Time' (2024) Indie Movie Review - A Haunting, Lynchian Dive into Obsession and Lost Media
- Alex Leptos
- Jun 25
- 4 min read
"It started out as an experiment, as it always does. A lot of the stories I write stem from a burning desire to experiment; to seek new ways of keeping the creative spirit in me alive. The Film Lost to Time continues with that. Experimenting with Super 8. Surrealism. Writing and rewriting scenes to fit which direction the film wants to go in. It essentially wrote itself. I like to group my films in threes—not as traditional trilogies, but as separate stories connected by theme, tone, or style. The Film Lost to Time is the first in a trilogy about obsession, approached in the most conventional non-conventional way."
- Brandon Espana (writer/director)
Retro Video Pictures were one of Outside the Spotlight’s earliest collaborators with short films Undercover Bike Cop and Forgotten Trash. What’s striking about the work of director Brandon Espana and this indie studio is how his films feel like they are pieces of some obscure filmic history. Like the the old dusty VHS tapes you dig out from the back of an abandoned video store, lost to time.
His latest aptly titled as such, The Film Lost to Time opens with a filmmaker being interviewed about an unfinished project- 'The Sender.' Vincent Ventura is an underground director whose works are revered by cinephiles who appreciate low-budget, high-concept works. Said works span over only eight years and four films, and according to the film’s narrator, Johnny, Ventura pushed out “masterpiece after masterpiece.” In the present, Ventura has disappeared- vanished without a trace, prints of his films sold off and 'The Sender' remaining a mystery that may or may not exist.
Nobody knows what 'The Sender' is about, so we are treated to multiple manifestations of what it could be. The main of these comes from Johnny (Anthony Capanzana), who is one of the Ventura faithfuls and treats his grainy epics like sacred texts. And none more sacred than 'The Sender.' Johnny is on a wild search for this film at the expense of his own sanity; his reality slowly fading and his mind spiraling into a fever dream where the line between Ventura’s fiction and his own obsession begins to blur.
Johnny draws multiple others into his mission in the forms of his girlfriend Sarah who grows ever tired of it, his video store owner friend who has a contact that might know something, and then there are two other fellow cinephiles searching for 'The Sender.' Ultimately, we follow the perspectives of the latter three, as well as Vincent Ventura (Liam West) himself.
Shot in black and white with splashes of colour here and there, it’s framed within a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Film Lost to Time immerses the viewer in a claustrophobic, vintage aesthetic that evokes the look and feel of 90s underground cinema and lost tapes. The soundtrack, drenched in the moody, hypnotic tones of ’90s trip hop- echoing artists like Massive Attack, Portishead, and Sneaker Pimps- further anchors the film in a specific era and mood, enhancing its haunting atmosphere.
The Film Lost to Time calls back to the early works of the likes of David Lynch and Fincher, with its murky atmospheres, elliptical storytelling, and a sense of dread that creeps in like static on an old television set. Like Lynch, Espana toys with dream logic and fractured identity; like Fincher, he obsesses over the mechanics of obsession itself-layering the mystery not just in plot, but in tone, pacing, and texture.
There’s an unearthed quality to it- rather than something that has simply been shot. The haunting, lo-fi quality- like a dream half-remembered makes it feel "real" in a way most films don’t, like you’ve stumbled across something you’re not entirely sure you were meant to see- aided of course by the very natural, nuanced performances that are neither too subtle nor too over the top. You don’t just watch The Film Lost to Time- you slip into it, being pulled into its mysteries, lingering in the far corners of your mind.
What truly sets Retro Video Pictures and Brandon Espana apart is how their films commit entirely to their concepts, making something that you can truly ponder on, so content to leave questions unanswered. That might be frustrating for those looking for something more concrete- but for me, it's what makes it linger, and that’s exactly what I want out of a film- for it to stay with me for a while. At times it flirts with pretension, sure, but it always pulls itself back with just enough emotional grounding to make it unforgettable.
About the filmmaker
Brandon Espana is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist and founder of Retro Video Pictures, an independent production company dedicated to creating films with an authentic retro feel. Known for his hands-on approach to every aspect of production, his work includes the supernatural thriller short Undercover Bike Cop and the shot-on-video sci-fi horror Forgotten Trash.
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