Darkon

Comments (0) By Aaron Hillis Tuesday, Sep 4 2007

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Darkon
Directed by Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer
Opens September 14, Cinema Village

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There's a particularly funny episode of The X-Files in which a nerdling hacker boasts in an on-camera interview: "I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage," which could easily have been in a deleted scene from Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer's clever, lo-fi dorkumentary about fantasy role-players in Baltimore who dress up in makeshift costumes and wage elaborate territorial battles in suburban fields. We meet stay-at-home dad Skip (ahem, "Bannor of Laconia"), who duct-tapes together his shield in preparation of usurping glory from arch-nemesis Kenyon ("Keldar of Mordom"), and sweet-natured, overweight Daniel ("Triv Gorgo"), who can't meet girls but finds solace in ducking foam broadswords. Empowered as they are, it's hard to take this motley crew seriously when they spit medieval maxims with soccer goals in the background, but the filmmakers approach their subjects with humanity. There are downright depressing moments too, as when one player says that he still feels real-world bullied in this imaginary kingdom.