It’s the end of a scorching summer somewhere in the American South. This is Charlotte’s (Odessa Young, Assassination Nation) last summer vacation before going away to college. She wants to leave as soon as possible: In the wake of her mother’s suicide, there’s no longer anything tying her to her hometown. Her ex-boyfriend Joe (Ben Schnetzer, Snowden, Pride) shows up again unexpectedly, and teenage girls start dying in the area. The Giant suggests more than it shows, blurring the border between reality and hallucination while hiding its biggest secrets in the dark on 35 mm film. The first-time director is not interested in banal answers to criminal riddles; he prefers to consistently build the stifling, unsettling atmosphere of a nightmare you just can’t shake. You can hear faint echoes of the work of David Lowery and Nicholas Winding Refn in the film, but The Giant is above all an attempt—imperfect but still intriguing—by Raboy to find his own directorial voice.
David Raboy is an American director, screenwriter, editor, and cinematographer. The Giant is his directorial debut. Work on the film took ten years, dating back to when the first draft of the script was written. With funds raised through a crowdfunding website, Raboy made a short version of the film that screened at the Locarno Festival, among others. The full-length version premiered at the festival in Toronto.
2009 The Sixth Round (short)
2010 In April (short)
2012 The Giant (short)
2015 Beach Week (short)
2019 Gigant / The Giant