St. Nick is a tale of a brother aged 11 and his sister aged 9, who have run away from home and venture off into the unknown armed only with a rucksack and an old violin case. Along the way, the children come across an abandoned house and decide to halt their journey for the winter and settle down. Together they make the house their own by incorporating a sense of creativity and resourcefulness only children possess, and for a brief period are able to forget the harsh realities of their situation and just be kids.
The film itself is light on dialogue, which serves to enhance the feeling that this story is far more adult than the average childhood runaway adventure. Although the film never explicitly explains what events occurred to lead the children to run away from home, subtle hints of sadness and nostalgia are weaved in throughout the sibling banter. In one scene, the brother remarks about their dog Max, "he forgot about you, that's the way the world works."
Although I was completely absorbed in the story unfolding onscreen, the aspect of the film which captured my attention utmost was the cinematography. Set in Texas, St. Nick is filled with breathtaking shot after breathtaking shot. Scenes as simple as a vast open field with the sun peaking over the horizon, or a slow pan of a warped and rotting wood floor, are brimming with purpose and linger in the viewer's mind in a hauntingly poetic fashion.
You can catch St. Nick at Eau Claire Market on Tuesday Sept 29th at 9:30pm. An encore presentation of the film will be screened again at Eau Claire on Sunday October 4th at 9:15pm.
