Directed by: Aneesh Chaganty
Written by: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian
Spoilers Alert. It's an engaging thriller, made by the makers of Searching. Watch the film before you read it.
It's a survival thriller. 2 characters. Primarily 1 location. Good twists and turns. The writing also has depth, it doesn't feel like a plastic puzzle solving murder mystery. Though, it had generic characterization - of an underdog protagonist, who fights an antagonist - it has well defined emotional journeys of the characters. Especially Chloe. She's a curious girl. She wants to live. We feel empathized towards her because of her simple aspirations - to go to college, to have fun, to have a normal life. When she realizes that her entire life has been grabbed off of her by the mother - I could feel how she'd have felt. It's nice that the mother was kept a little mysterious even till the ending of the film - they didn't have her talk her version of the story - like we generally see.
The underlying theme of the film, that I interpreted, was about how insanely people try to control others' lives and have the audacity to think that it's for their good. I think that's what the film talks about - how would that turn out if it goes to an extreme. I think this is an interesting way of writing horror/thriller films. Take something problematic that's existing in the real world, and exaggerate it creatively, and make a thriller/ a horror film out of it. Get Out, Us, Kumbalangi Nights, The Platform and this film. The ending felt like a tit for tat - I'd have preferred something else. I'd have wanted to see her quietly move on, probably after getting some closure - instead of doing the same thing in return to her. I think this is a difference of opinion in the way we look at Crime and Punishment in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment