Take My Hands

Directed by Barbara Ali • Runtime 12:15

Watch on Higgsfield

Film Review

Written by Kineograph

On an old trading schooner in open water, the crew have long accepted that something comes with the storm and takes one man. This time, they decide to find out why.

Synopsis

A ship is a small community. Eight men from eight different places share a deck they cannot leave, in weather that does not care who they are. It is not a smooth ride, and then it gets much worse: there is a ghost aboard.

On a trading schooner far out in open water, a storm rolls in at night. A ghost comes aboard and takes one of the men. The survivors hide, but hiding does not help. So they stop hiding and start thinking: why that man, and why not any of the others? Whatever came for him was not hunting. It was choosing. And once the crew understand the basis of that choice, they also understand which of them is next.

The Review

A Storm, a Ship, and a Waiting Dread

The film opens on the crew in the middle of a storm, and it builds its dread slowly. One of the men looks out into the distance, as if he can already sense what is coming. Another falls asleep. Almost everyone else has already gone below to hide under the deck, everyone except the old man, Walter. There is a sense that these men have been through this before and know exactly what the storm brings.

That is what makes the opening so effective. We are not watching strangers discover a terror for the first time. We are watching a crew who have learned to live beside it, until the night it arrives to take one of them, and the old routine of hiding stops working.

From Hiding to Thinking

The smartest turn in the film comes in the quiet that follows. In the slow light of day, the crew stop running and start working the problem. Why was he taken? Why not someone else? Piece by piece, they begin to see a pattern. The ghost does not take people at random. It takes them because they are the best at what they do.

And what these men do, specifically, is cook. The ghost has been taking the finest cooks aboard, one by one, and now only one cook is left. It is a wonderful idea, because it turns the usual rules of horror upside down. In most scary stories, the monster comes for the weak. Here, the thing that marks you for danger is your skill, the very thing you are proudest of.

A Meal for a Ghost

The crew’s answer is as surprising as it is touching. They do not fight the ghost, and they do not try to escape it. They decide to make it a meal.

It is a lovely choice, because it says something about the men who make it. Eight men from eight different places, with nothing in common except the deck beneath their feet, come together around the one thing they can offer. What these entirely different men do together is what the film is really about, and what they do is cook. The ghost arrives, the meal is there, and the film ends. It leaves us with the image and trusts us to feel the rest.

The Hands

The title does a great deal of quiet work. A cook’s hands are where all of the skill lives, and the ghost is drawn to exactly that. Read one way, “take my hands” is the plea of the next man in line. Read another way, it is an offering, a crew deciding to hand over the best of what they have. The film lets both meanings sit side by side, and that is part of what makes it linger.

It also carries a warm idea underneath the fear: the thing we are best at, the thing we pour ourselves into, is also how we reach others. A meal is a way of saying you matter. Even to a ghost.

The Song and the Score

I have to talk about the music, because it is one of the film’s great strengths. “Take My Hands” is a beautiful original song, and it gives the whole film its heart. It takes a story that could have been only a ghost tale and gives it feeling, tenderness, and a sense of longing that stays with you after the credits. The score around it is just as strong. It builds the dread of the storm and carries the quiet moments, and it knows when to let the sea and the silence speak.

The song, in particular, is the sort of piece you may find yourself looking up the moment the film ends. It deserves to be heard on its own.

Final Thoughts

Take My Hands is a beautifully original ghost story where the horror lies in being the best at something, and the answer lies in sharing it. It is atmospheric and surprising, with a warm and unexpected heart, and a song and score that make it unforgettable.

It will leave you wondering what you would put on the table if something came for you. And maybe, who you would want standing beside you.

Now consider this, the Higgsfield Global Film Festival is full of talent, but this is the only film where winning might get you taken. Judges, consider yourselves warned. The ghost has already picked its favorite