If this isn’t one of the better video essays that we’ve come across recently then pack our lunch and call us Gretel. In other words, this is one of the better video essays that we’ve come across recently. Sometimes, film analysis can be a bit of a wank. Actually, more often than not it’s a wank. There’s only so much looking into White Chicks that can be done before you realise that there absolutely zero looking into White Chicks can be done. Best never to look into any film that is written by or directed by or starring a Wayans brother.

But some filmmakers fill their work with purpose. David Cronenberg is one example. Denis Villeneuve is another. With Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 hitting cinemas near you in the very near future, what better time is there than now to cast your eye back to another one of Villeneuve’s flicks, the much-lauded Prisoners.

This video essay, from the folk over at Storytellers, is an example of film examination that really does offer some pretty incredible insight into the film in question, rather than just looking deeper into something that isn’t that deep. The video has given us a more profound appreciation of Villeneuve as a craftsman and gotten us even more excited to see what the man can do with the world that Phillip K. Dick created in “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.” It’s also filled us with an intense need to rewatch Prisoners over and over again. Just watch the video.