Coney Island Film Festival Presents BODY OF THE MINED Film Review — Futuristic And Mysterious

He paces from one pile of strange technology to the next, each time bending over to rearrange items. “I’m sorry my place isn’t exactly guest ready,” he says. “But it’s just disorganized y’know. Not uh... not dirty.” The young woman strolls into the room a few steps behind him, watching him until a cage next to the window makes her gape. A dead mouse lies on its side.

He fumbles in place for a moment, then approaches the cage. “Oh well that’s uh… that’s uh… I’m sorry.” He smiles nervously and covers the cage with a blanket.

The man, an old scientist named Ben, is showing his room to the young woman who just moved into the apartment. Clutter aside, Ben’s second floor room is cozy, being lit by a sprinkle of sunlight and two soft lamps. He’s got a couch, a pedestal fan, and a radio we hear earlier in the film. But danger lurks on the first floor.

BODY OF THE MINED Intrigues Us, Scares Us, Then Teaches Us

Ben has nearly completed a mind transfer device, but a gangster who breaks in his home forces him to use the device in a way he had not planned.

Body of The Mined contains sci-fi devices but a modern setting, making us feel at home yet making the unfamiliar stand out more. We become intrigued by the futuristic elements, but there’s a creepy uncertainty hanging in the back of our minds, like the dead mouse in Ben’s apartment, or the peeling walls and loud echoes in the young woman’s apartment. These elements weave together in an ending left for the viewer to interpret.

Characters Come From All Walks Of Life

Ben, played by Leonard Kelly-Young, quickly sways from one emotion to the next. At one turn his pride in his experiment resembles a father nurturing a baby, and at another he’s knocking papers over in frustration.

Conversely, the young woman, played by Nina Quezada Bloomgarden, transitions from one emotion to another at a gradual pace, but generally she has a steady gaze and a calm aura.

More characters show up throughout the film, each from a wildly different background than the other.