The Reach from director Luca Caserta
Best known for his horror and supernatural novels, as all Constant Readers know, Stephen King has also written extremely sensitive stories: “The Reach” bewitched me because it delicately addresses deep themes such as memory, roots, the succeeding generations, the inexorable passage of time and love that transcends the boundaries of life, all within King’s paranormal touch.
That crossing, which the main character Stella never wanted to undertake, holds deep emotional and symbolic meaning: the moment has come to face her inner demons. “The Reach” also serves as a metaphor for the delicate theme of the end-of-life, as well as a reflection on the climate upheavals of our time, symbolized by the harshest frost in fifty years, a key motif in the film. Exploring isolation, personal growth and the courage to embrace change, “The Reach”, for me, resonates with universal human themes.
The border implies an inner conflict, its crossing marks a before and an after: what I wanted to explore is what happens when one stands exactly on that border. The stretch of sea that separates the island from the mainland becomes a metaphor for the passage between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Set on an island in Maine in the original story, the film was shot across Italy, in Verona, the Venice Lido and the Lessini Mountains. In adapting the story for the screen, I aimed to preserve its essence while taking creative liberties to shape my own vision. In my film, the Reach that everyone talks about is intentionally shown only sparingly, becoming almost a supernatural entity that looms over the small self-sufficient community. I tried to convey the unity of its residents and their isolation from the outside world. I also wanted to instill in the viewer the doubt as to whether Stella’s visions were real, or merely the fantasies of an elderly woman whose mind could no longer distinguish between reality, imagination, and memory, especially since the ghosts she sees appear in the flesh, in the full vigor of youth, a detail that had particularly fascinated me in the story.
I also paid particular attention to the use of color as a vehicle for subtext, both in the lighting and the set design as well as in the characters’ costumes. I focused especially on the contrast between red (a recurring element in Stella’s clothing and in the blood, symbolizing the protagonist’s illness) and the pure white of the snow, which represents her personal resolution and the rebirth she moves toward when she decides to embark on her final journey to the Reach.
The soundtrack features Bruce Springsteen’s song “Moonlight Motel”, courtesy of the legendary artist and Sony Music. I had it in mind from the very beginning, even when I was writing the screenplay: to me, it’s a song about love and what remains of it, memories, the flow of time and life, the nostalgia for what has been and is no more. Its delicate, nostalgic melody and lyrics perfectly complement the film’s themes, enhancing its emotional depth and adding further layers of meaning.
Luca Caserta (May 22, 2025)
