‘Lars Shrike Walks the Night’

Somewhere in a distant galaxy… the protagonist of what looks like a 1970s era science fiction film wanders around the empty deserts of a prison planet. He is desperate to escape from the planet. But, with his memory erased, he must first work out who he is. Is he the product of a failed space experiment, a clone, or something far worse?

Lars Shrike Walks the Night is Stranger Than Fiction meets K-PAX. The story explores the strange relationship between the writer and their characters. The film examines aspects of self-identity, the nature of reality, and the ‘protagonist’s’ purpose in life.

There are echoes of other films, from Vanilla Sky to The Truman Show, to Fight Club, Total Recall and Shutter Island. All these stories ask the same question – what is reality?

So, who is Lars Shrike?

Kelsey Grammer plays Lars Shrike in this low budget science fiction film written and directed by Gary Walkow. I was expecting a classic redemptive setup – the memory loss meets homeless person story. Lars Shrike Walks the Night actually takes it further and does it with a subversive and upbeat note.