Reflective Encounters

“A man walks, a thing follows. In a cold suburban landscape, filled with sharp angles and muted colours, an eerie surreal atmosphere develops, reminiscent of the paintings of Rene Magritte. A sombre world that feels tense and violent with minimal sound gives the film an almost Kafkaesque nightmarish quality. The character’s flesh is mottled in a way similar to that of Raynaud’s Syndrome, blueish and white, resembling an all-over bruise or the cold dead skin of a corpse. The design and filmmaking sensibilities feel like a continuation of Stein's previous film Flute (2018), a coming-of-age story in which a young man struggles to find himself between the competing pull of his domineering peers and overbearing mother.

Stein has once again created an unsettling, raw, superbly violent and vicious world that is Cronenbergian in its ability to simultaneous combine both psychosis and body horror in a way that makes your skin crawl from start to finish. DING (Thing) frames humans as reactive, volatile creatures who, when threatened, act on impulse and from ingrained aggression, without compassion. A stark, surreal look into the core of the human consciousness and our primal drives that dictate our desire for not only survival but supremacy over the weak.”

— Laura-Beth Cowley