A Leeward Phantom (film)

A Leeward Phantom
Directed by	Garth Greene
Screenplay by	Anthony Goodwin Garth Greene
Starring	Grant Page Benjamin Wagner Sebastian Tallmadge
Production company	Maynard Motion Pictures
Distributed by	Empyrean Studios
Release date	June 20, 2023
Running time	156 minutes
Language	English

A Leeward Phantom is a 2023 large-budget Maximusian historical fantasy epic drama set in Iustitia and the southern Maximusian isles during the mid 1800s. The film follows the efforts of a once-wealthy merchant tycoon and his unlikely crew to sail through cursed waters from Iustitia City to St. Paul Island (a trip of roughly 200 nautical miles) in order to reunite with his old flame and lift an ancient hex. The film, hailed by critics and casual viewers, alike, was the highest-grossing Maximusian film of 2023 and among the most profitable based on box-office revenue.

Production

Filming began in late 2021 on location in Iustitia City and ended in autumn of 2022. Much of principle photography took place on a reproduction period-accurate 106-foot schooner-rigged vessel in the city's harbor and surrounding open waters. Establishing shots for early scenes depicting a 19th-century Iustitia City were captured in the city’s historic downtown. An uncooperative weather pattern caused numerous delays and setbacks in filming. Scenes set to take place on the fictional isle of St. Paul were filmed on Concordia, an isle in the Maximusian Prince Frederick island chain. The film made extensive use of practical effects, adding significant digital enhancement only to the film's finale.

Plot

The film is bookended by a prologue and epilogue. Both sequences are narrated by Sebastian Tallmadge.

In the waning years of the Age of Sail, Archibald King (Page) is the heir to a vast Iustitia-based shipping empire. Though he is betrothed to an elite Iustitian debutante, he spends little time in the city, instead island-hopping in the north Galinios Sea in a schooner called the Seraph. While at port in St. Paul (a fictional isle based on Concordia), King becomes smitten with a native woman, Ariadne (Bowman), and the two share a romantic evening on a remote beach. The next morning, Ariadne offers to accompany King on his return voyage to Iustitia City, but King rebuffs her request, explaining his engagement. Humiliated and betrayed, Ariadne curses King's name, claiming that she is a sorceress and will set the Thassalaparata, a vengeful water spirit from native Iustitian folklore, upon him. King departs, calling Ariadne a charlatan.

Over the coming months, King's life unravels. His fiancée drowns after slipping off the side of a wharf and his father dies suddenly of typhoid fever, leaving the family empire in the unprepared hands of King. King, terrified that Ariadne's curse may be real and in mourning, refuses to go to sea again. The merchant captains and sailors of King's fleet, however, begin reporting strange sightings and events during their voyages, including glowing seas, maelstroms, freak storms, and a phantom fleet of lugsail-rigged ships stalking the horizon. These terrific accounts spark the interest of amateur naturalist, physician, and associate of King, Dr. Leland Howard (Barber), who begins recording the inexplicable events and interviewing sailors.

The remainder of the film follows the perspective of Matthew (Wagner), an orphan who finds work as a cabin boy aboard King's largest vessel, helmed by the grizzled Captain William Ramsey (Baxter). While at port in Iustitia City, Ramsey, a stern man, coarsely berates Matthew for lacking discipline before being interrupted by a flustered King, who comes aboard and requests to speak to Ramsey privately. Listening from a nook behind the captain's quarters, Matthew hears a deeply disturbed King explain that three of his merchant ships have simply vanished while out at sea, and that he is convinced his business and person have been hexed. Ramsey and King devise a plan to take the Seraph back to St. Paul Island, though Ramsey only agrees to lead the expedition because he believes it will show to King that their is no curse and alleviate crewmen fears. King, on the other hand, plans to return to St. Paul to find Ariadne and plead for her forgiveness. Ramsey takes Matthew and a number of his most trusted crew members to man the Seraph, while Dr. Howard joins King and the crew for the voyage, convinced that the strange maritime occurrences are the result of natural phenomena.

Just hours after leaving port, the Seraph becomes mired in doldrums. That night, odd sounds can be heard emanating from the sea and the crew begin to loose their nerve. Days pass and the eerie occurrences continue, though the wind picks up slightly. A huge shark (a Whalefish) seems to trail the boat and the seas glow like fire at night. King and the crew grow increasingly on edge, while Ramsey continues to lecture Matthew on the importance of maintaining discipline while at sea. Convinced they are cursed, many members of the crew begin to panic, plead with Ramsey to turn the ship towards land, and even contemplate mutiny. In order to regain order on the ship, Ramsey is forced to utilize increasingly draconian measures, flogging crewmen and rationing food. By the sixth evening of the voyage, tensions reach their boiling point. The crew demand that Ramsey turn the ship around or they will mutiny, but Ramsey refuses. King attempts to ease the men's fears by explaining that only he is cursed, elaborating on the Thassalaparata, his relationship with Ariadne, and surmising that the hex will be lifted as soon as the ship reaches port in St. Paul, just one day's journey away. Naturally, this explanation sends the crew into a frenzy, made worse as the seas begin to turn rough. In a last ditch effort to regain control of the ship, Howard presents his thesis, that every bizarre occurrence can be explained by a buildup of bioluminescent algae, and that there is no curse. A huge hurricane subsequently rolls through, causing catastrophic damage to the ship and killing Howard in the process.

The crew mutinies, tying up Ramsey and tossing King into the sea as a sacrifice to the Thassalaparata, beating and stabbing him mercilessly in the process. As the crew turns on Captain Ramsey, a yard breaks off from the mainsail, knocking Matthew into the rolling surf. The schooner is blown away from the overboard duo, leaving Ramsey and his crew’s fate a mystery. Although Matthew cannot swim, King, though mortally wounded, keeps him afloat long enough to grab hold of a floating piece of debris from the schooner, dying from exhaustion and injuries sustained during the mutiny moments later. As King’s body sinks into the sea, the waves begin to glow and the storm gradually abates, revealing an iridescent sunrise.

In the film’s epilogue, the narrator is revealed to be a now-octogenarian Matthew, who was rescued by Legionite sailors the morning after the storm. They reported pursuing a great whalefish, who disappeared into the depths just before Matthew was sighted. Living in a townhouse overlooking the harbor of Port Lutzos, Legionas, the narrator explains that he never again went to sea, but does not believe in mythical curses or a vindictive spirit of the ocean, only the lengths mankind will go to rationalize occurrences beyond their control or comprehension. In the harbor, a huge steam-powered ocean liner departs from the port, headed for destinations unknown.

Cast

• Grant Page as Archibald "Archie" King
• Benjamin Wagner as Matthew
• Christopher Baxter as Captain William Ramsey
• Lawrence Barber as Dr. Leland Howard
• Sebastian Tallmadge as Old Matthew (billed as "Narrator")
• Tiffany Bowman as Ariadne