Pooka!

Wilson moves into a nondescript urban apartment building where he befriends an older neighbor named Red. A coffee shop serves as the doorway to an audition and to the looming Pooka project, fueling his new career. The story expands to a Christmas tree farm and Melanie's open house, places tied to family and romance, and finally to a bar that becomes a liminal space where reality feels unstable. These settings ground the story in a festive yet ominous Christmas atmosphere, memory and trauma seeping into daily life.

🪞 Identity

Wilson's Pooka persona blurs the line between actor and character, raising questions about who he really is. The costume seems to absorb his past violence, surfacing as outbursts and memory gaps. The film frames identity as something worn, learned, and potentially dangerous to those around him. The conflict centers on choosing a self that breaks cycles of pain or one that repeats them.

🕯️ Guilt

Haunting visions and the fatal accident betray the weight of Wilson's past actions. The narrative ties his present ambitions to unresolved guilt, especially in relation to Melanie and Ty. The reality of who he was collides with who he tries to become, shaping fragile trust. The crash sequence reveals how forgiveness is fragile and often blocked by fear.

🌀 Reality

The line between what Wilson experiences and what is real becomes murky through hallucinations and the bar that seems to exist in an empty world. Finn's revelation that there never was a Pooka turns the story into a meditation on manufactured reality. The Pooka suit's persistence suggests how perception can cling to a traumatic past. The final choices demonstrate that memory can feel as convincing as fact.