A scene from the Korean steamy suspense drama HIDDEN FACE. Courtesy of Well Go USA
The subtitled Korean export HIDDEN FACE is marketed as a suspense tale, but it’s a just-shy-of-soft-core drama about a romantic triangle that takes a few bizarre turns among a very attractive cast. Song Seung-heon plays the new conductor of a prestigious symphony orchestra, who landed his plum gig largely because he married the rich-bitch daughter (Cho Yeo-jeong) of a strutting soap opera star (Park Ji-young, looking alarmingly like Eddie Izzard in drag mode) who fancies herself the star of every scenario, on or off-camera… and convinces others to bend to her will. She provides the elegant apartment in which the newlyweds reside, as well as being the orchestra’s main benefactor. Mega-clout all around, wielded shamelessly by a mega-Karen.
The wife’s bestie and fellow cellist (Park Ji-hyun) have a chat in which the former pouts that she’s not getting enough attention from her stony-faced hubby and decides to disappear, leaving an unlikely suicide note behind. That opens up two spots for the bestie – a chair in the orchestra, and a horizontal one in the marital bed. With that almost Hitchcockian setup, we initially wonder how she vanished – is she dead, or just testing how much people will miss the preening Princess? Then the plot veers sharply into DePalma territory once we learn where she went and how she got there. The steamy bits come from several trysts with surprisingly generous displays of nudity for an East Asian production. Those scenes are beautifully staged and scored, both artistically and erotically.
The reveals are rather over-the-top, but the female performances and gorgeous sets are so compelling that one may not care about the logic or logistics of it all; or the fact that the male lead is a virtually blank slate, readily manipulated by the latest woman to pull his chain (or other appendage). The script is adapted from a 2011 Spanish film, THE HIDDEN FACE, which I haven’t seen. But some descriptions indicate it’s even more lurid. Time to start looking for that guilty pleasure, too.
Regular readers know how many Korean action flicks I’ve praised in the past few years. This tossed salad of psychological issues and titillation makes me think I should expand my genre repertoire.
HIDDEN FACE, in Korean with English subtitles, debuts on digital formats from Well Go USA as of Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.
Sara Mortensen as Elsa, in the French mini-series “Off Track.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
The 2023 six-hour miniseries from France, “Off Track” (originally, “L’abime”) delivers a truly suspenseful tale in an unfortunately bloated package. Elsa (Sara Mortensen) and Laurent (Gil Alma) have been happily married for 20 years, apart from enduring the bitchiness of their teen daughter, Lucie (Marie Mallia). At least that’s how it seems until Elsa vanishes without explanation, and dead bodies start littering the landscape. After a frantic search for the first couple of episodes, Elsa turns up, as she must since she’s the friggin’ star of this show.
Gradually we learn that Elsa wasn’t always Elsa, and that her bio before Laurent was considerably different from what she’d told him. The truth unfolds slowly throughout the rest of the series, aided by a slew of flashbacks. Elsa suffers nightmares about the death of a boy that have her plagued with guilt. She’s also constantly in conflict with Lucie over every sort of thing that occurs. When it starts to seem as if Elsa has dark secrets from the past, and may be killing a couple of guys in the present to keep concealing her true identity, the energy level picks up. Was she a criminal? Fleeing from an abuser? In France’s version of Witness Protection? Amnesiac? Psycho? Disclosing more about the plot and the players would spoil key parts of the mystery. Suffice it to say that the tale is intricate and keeps one guessing to the end.
Mortensen’s performance is compelling, creating a bouncing ball of empathy vs. suspicion throughout. Coline Bellin, who plays Elsa in the flashbacks to her teen years, also delivers the goods. The whole cast does well in filling their variety of roles, from overly judgmental cops to sympathetic friends, among others. The rural and small-town scenery is another plus.
The only negative – a big one for me, but perhaps less so for others – is that it feels 50% longer than need be. Tighten this to four episodes and it’s a winner, without losing any plot-moving or story arc essentials. But binge-ers who prefer leisurely tales to nestle in with during their viewing hours may find the slow pace a comfy fit.
“Off Track,” in French with English subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Apr. 15.
RATING: 2 out of 4 stars
Sara Mortensen (Elsa) and Gil Alma (Laurent), in the French mini-series “Off Track.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
Haley Bennett as Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the widow Clicquot, in Thomas Napper’s WIDOW CLICQUOT. Photo Credit: Ash Stephens. Courtesy of Vertical
If you celebrate by drinking champagne, you have a French widow in the Napoleonic age to thank. And if you want the best, one of France’s top champagnes is Veuve Clicquot, a name that translates as “Widow Clicquot.” honoring the young widow who took over the family vineyard and winery she had run with her husband, and not only made it into one of the leading makers of the bubbly but also transforming the whole champagne industry.
WIDOW CLICQUOT is an English-language historical drama recounting the true story of that brilliant, innovative woman, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, known as “Grande Dame of Champagne,” who lived from 1777 to 1866. Haley Bennett plays Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the widow Clicquot, who not only made the Clicquot family’s champagne famous (with its distinctive yellow label) but who also invented pink champagne and created innovations that transformed the entire champagne industry itself. And all that in the time of Napoleon, when women had no rights and were forbidden to run a business – unless they were a widow continuing her husband’s business.
We first meet Barbe-Nicole as a newly widowed 28-year-old with a young daughter, as she fends off pressure from her well-meaning father-in-law Phillipe (Ben Miles) to sell the vineyard and winery to the neighboring Moet vineyard. But the widow is determined to run the vineyard and winery she and her late husband Francois (Tom Sturridge) had built together from the family business his father had turned over to him. She makes a deal with her father-in-law to let her try to run the winery and vineyard on her own for a limited amount of time, a deal he agrees to out of fondness for her but with the firm belief that no woman has the capacity to run a business, least of all this young widow.
With ground-breaking innovative ideas, the widow Clicquot tries to hold on to the dream she shared with Francois. The resourceful young widow quickly enlists the help of the talented salesman (Sam Riley) she and her husband had worked with, someone who was also a friend, to help her take the business to a new level. The gifted salesman – who traveled to sell the wine in various markets, a new idea at the time – takes the stunning new wines the widow makes straight to the top of society: the royal families of Europe.
The true story unfolds against the backdrop of the tumultuous age of Napoleon, with wars and all that followed. Director Thomas Napper’s lush period drama features all the lovely sets and costumes audiences could want, plus gorgeous visuals and a fine British cast, to complement this inspiring period biopic about one of the first women entrepreneurs in France. At a mere 90 minutes, the drama covers a lot of historical territory briskly. With the widow’s hard work, expertise with the vines and brilliant skill in experimenting with new wines, and the salesman’s tireless travel and his talent for marketing, something magical might take place – if nothing goes wrong. With weather and war as adversaries, it becomes a race between innovation and chance.
The story is full of unexpected twists and turns as the risk-taking widow determinedly improves her wine, despite setbacks and challenges of various kinds. Like most period dramas, there is a bit of romance too, in scenes that flashback to her life with Francois. Their marriage was arranged by their wine-making families but it turned into true love, and a partnership of equals, inspired by the humanist ideals of the age.
But these characters are more complex than in a standard period drama. While these flashbacks give a romantic touch, they soon turn more complex, adding a tragic dimension to this tale of one remarkable woman. Ultimately, the focus is on the accomplishments of this brilliant, determined woman more than on romance. Further both the widow and the wandering salesman are more complicated people than we might assume, while the father-in-law, fond as he is of his son’s widow, can’t escape his ideas about what women can do, something also true of the society of the time. There is plenty of risk and rule-breaking, which adds a layer of tension and suspense to the tale.
WIDOW CLIQUOT is an inspiring drama about a courageous real woman entrepreneur who faced more sexism and barriers than we could imagine yet achieved success through it all. Which deserves a toast with that bubbly wine she worked so hard to perfect.
(l-r) Michael Olavson as the passenger and Lizzie Zerebko as Allison, in ENDANGERED. Courtesy of REBL HQ.
There have been many suspense films focusing on a few people through one long night of unexpected peril. ENDANGERED may rank among the better ones, thanks to clever scripting by Adam Armstrong and Marcus Devivo (in the feature-length film debut for both), and flawless casting. Lizzie Zerebko plays Allison, an architect who can’t find a job, and resorts to driving for a ride-share service to keep food on the table and a roof overhead. We’re immediately in her corner, and the more we learn about why she can’t get hired within her profession, the more we want her to be safe that evening, and successful in her proper career thereafter.
On the night in question, she picks up a passenger (Michael Olavson) who isn’t the service’s registered client that called for a car. He explains that the guy is a friend who booked it for him. Though Allison is unable to confirm his sketchy account, she reluctantly accepts the fare. Off they go through what seems an endless drive around their city, chatting a bit along the way, never quite relieving Allison of her doubts about his story. At a stop for gas, she opens his bag and finds things that indicate criminal activity may have been afoot.
That covers the first 20 minutes, or so. As for the rest, the less I write, the better for your viewing, since the plot delivers more moments of suspense and twists than most of the other tales springing from such a premise. For his first feature-length directing gig, Drew Walkup shows an exceptional sense of visuals and pacing, maintaining the tension through several incidents – including a couple of unlikely encounters – and never letting the film feel too claustrophobic. The latter is a serious risk for movies with nearly all of their running time transpiring in a single space.
Zerebko is attractive in a wholesome way that makes her seem vulnerable, lacking the street-smarts to do this job safely, especially late at night with so few people around. Olavson conveys his character’s ambiguity to keep Allison and the audience wondering just how good or dangerous he is. It all adds up to a worthy choice when you’re seeking this sort of tale. Both of the young lead actors’ resumes list TV and shorts leading up to this theatrical opportunity. They are clearly ready to keep going on the big screen. Considering the limited collective experience among the principals, there’s a lot of promising talent on both sides of the camera.
Though unrated at the time of this review, I’d place its violence level between a strong PG-13 and a modest R.
ENDANGERED (alternatively titled FOX HUNT DRIVE) is available via video-on-demand beginning Friday, July 22.
Tim Roth as Neil Bennett in SUNDOWN. Property of TEOREMA. Courtesy of Bleecker Street
Things are not always as they appear. In Mexican writer/director Michel Franco’s SUNDOWN, Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg play members of a family on vacation in Acapulco, Mexico, in a suspenseful drama where things are not always what they seem.
While the Bennett family – Neil (Tim Roth), Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and teens Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan) and Colin (Samuel Bottomley) – vacations at a posh beach side resort, their pleasant holiday is interrupted by a family emergency back home in London. Alice is distraught at the news, while Neil’s reaction is muted. At the airport, Neil tells the family he forgot his passport back at the hotel. But rather than delaying everyone, he says he will go to back to retrieve it and then catch the next flight, while the rest of the family boards their hastily-arranged flight back home to London. After they depart, Neil grabs a cab but instead tells the driver to take him to a hotel, any hotel, instead of going back to the resort.
So what is going on and what kind of person is Neil? Those are questions that intrigue us and keep us guessing in this mysterious, suspenseful drama. While he spins excuses to Alice on the phone, Neil extends his vacation, spending his days on the beach, drinking Dos Equis, eventually taking up with a woman at a nearby shop, Berenice (Iazua Larios).
Neil’s behavior is puzzling, even cold-hearted given that there is a funeral to arrange back in London. But we also sense sadness, maybe desperation, in his low-key demeanor. Not to give too much away, but director/writer Michel Franco is slyly playing on assumptions he knows we will make. More is going on here than it first seems, and as the film unfolds, more is revealed, along with some shocking events.
The director wrote the film specifically for Tim Roth, with whom he has worked before in 2015’s CHRONIC. Franco’s work has been compared to Michael Haneke’s and SUNDOWN is an understated film with unsettling undercurrents, with Roth playing a character who reactions are both puzzling and muted. At under an hour and a half, the film’s deliberate pace isn’t an issue but it also brings in some shocking twists and sudden violence, while weaving in issues of crime, violence, income inequality and class divides in contemporary Mexico.
Roth’s character Neil is the central puzzle of the film, a complicated, multi-layered one. As we wonder why he behaves as he does and what is really going on with him and his family, things make more sense as we learn more about the family. While we can see the family is clearly affluent, it is eventually revealed they are very wealthy and the owners of slaughterhouses.
That unconventional puzzle is set against a backdrop of some unsettling, sometime shocking events, although both the filmmaker and the character keep everything at arm’s length, which all feed into what is really going on with Neil. The reason, or at least the explanation, for Neil’s behavior becomes clearer by the film’s end, but as the story unfolds, the questions keep us involved and wondering about what is next and that seemingly passive, preoccupied guy at its center.
Roth gives a subtle, affecting performance, filled with a vague sense of sadness and distance, that on re-watching gives clues to what is happening with Neil from the start. At first, Neil appears to be sociopathic but even before we understand more about what is going on with him, it is hard to dislike him, because he projects an underlying despair and he is so mild and asks so little of those around him. We are infuriated and puzzled by his behavior towards his family but are shocked further when he hardly reacts when a man is shot next to him on the beach, showing neither fear nor concern, only surprise. Tensions are high when Neil draws the attention of some shady characters, who casually sit down uninvited at his table at a beach bar and grill, seeming to size him up for robbery or a con.
While Roth’s Neil is all passivity, Gainsbourg’s character is the opposite, verging on hysteria at the bad news from home, growing impatient and then angry at Neil’s behavior, demanding and constantly calling and texting him. The family lawyer, Richard (Henry Goodman), becomes a go-between and a source of insight on the family for us.
SUNDOWN constantly plays on our shifting assumptions while Roth slowly crafts the character, but unfolding events reveal the story, and insights on life in Mexico, the wealthy Bennett family, and what is driving Neil. Nothing is simple, as perceptions shift while we go down this mysterious, ultimately heartbreaking hole.
With its strange central character and willingness to unsettle its audience, SUNDOWN is a film that won’t appeal to every taste. SUNDOWN can be challenging but it is a brilliantly crafted film with much to say about people and the state of modern life in Mexico, and elsewhere for that matter, with a sparkling but subtle performance by Roth, which make this suspenseful mystery drama well worth the effort.
SUNDOWN opens Friday, Feb. 4, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and other theaters nationally.
In 1973, Erica Jong wrote FEAR OF FLYING, a wildly popular erotic novel that introduced us to the term “zipless f**k” – an anonymous, one-time, spur of the moment boink. No names. No thought of repeating the experience. BETA TEST gives a teched-up variation on the concept, raising more questions than answers for those who participate. Each lucky (?) tryster receives an engraved invitation to meet an unknown admirer in a posh hotel. We follow the course of a few who go for it.
The suspenseful drama opens with a woman confessing her recent adventure to her spouse. The disclosure is not at all well-received. We switch quickly to the main story, involving Jordan Hines, a smarmy Hollywood agent (are there other kinds?) played by co-writer and co-director Jim Cummings. He’s scrambling to save his agency in a showbiz era that threatens their relevance. He’s also six weeks away from marrying Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), who seems almost saintly in her patience for his manic, erratic actions. After wrestling with his conscience, Hines meets the mystery lover for a masked roll in the luxury hay, and becomes obsessed with finding out who she was, and why the unknown arranger decided to extend the offer to him.
The rest of the movie focuses on Hines’ quest to find the woman and reasons for what appears to be a large-scale operation with unknown motives. He turns to his agency partner and best bud, PJ (also the other half of the writing/directing tandem, PJ McCabe) to help learn the how and why of this bizarre bit of matchmaking.
Maybe it’s a cult on the order of the masked-and-robed hedonists in EYES WIDE SHUT. Maybe it’s a blackmail scheme. A few references to Harvey Weinstein and the current climate for sexual harassment raise the question of whether it’s the work of one or more grudge holders from perceived peccadilloes past.
The setup is fine, but following its execution is almost exhausting. Director Cummings should have reined in actor Cummings on the level of histrionics deployed to present his character’s growing frustration and paranoia. Actor Cummings should have urged writer Cummings to pay more attention to the coherence of his screenplay. Writer McCabe shortchanged actor McCabe on his share of screen time. The movie is a long way in before some disparate plot lines start fitting into the picture; some never really do. The very attractive cast and upscale sets collectively give us the glamour of Hollywood’s slice of showbiz, complete with the shallowness of everyone’s dreams and tactics for “making it.” What we learn about those whys and wherefores is reasonably satisfying but investment in the characters – especially Hines – may well fade for others as it did for me. Pay attention to teeth. They’re more significant than you’d expect.
BETA TEST opens Nov. 5 in theaters in some locations and streaming on Amazon Prime and other platforms.
(l-r) Sienna Sayer with Kiera Thompson as Leah in MARTYRS LANE. Photo Credit: Shudder
A sullen 10-year-old girl named Leah (played by Kiera Thompson) is living in a rambling, creepy old house by the woods, in a family obviously strained by some previous trauma. What could possibly go wrong? Those who’ve seen scary movies with a supernatural premise like MARTYRS LANE know the range of possibilities is enormous, and most of them prove to be less than benevolent. Frankly, after decades of such films, often with graphic displays of carnage, I’m surprised that anyone would ever rent a cabin in the woods, or buy a big old house with a “history.” It’s probably Hollywood’s pervasive influence that inspired the various laws requiring disclosure of deaths and disasters in any realty transactions.
In this case, the house in this British supernatural thriller came as part of the compensation package for Leah’s father (Stephen Cree) as church pastor. Mom (Denise Gough) is a wreck, easily triggered to anger or tears. Leah is left largely to herself, interrupted periodically by taunting from her older sister (Hannah Rae). That leaves room for an imaginary friend (Sienna Sayer), who might derive from something other than whimsy, and who may come with her own agenda. Guardian Angel? Devil kin? Delusion? Time will tell.
Leah’s little pal visits her mostly at night. They play some games, including clues to find objects that may explain (to Leah and the audience) why the family is so screwed up. The slow-moving mix of disclosure and growing danger sets a suspenseful tone. That eerie quality is enhanced by writer/director Ruth Platt’s decision to keep the camera closer than usual to her subjects for most of the footage. That creates a tension akin to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT but without the risk of motion sickness.
The proceedings keep viewers more on edge than grossed out as the story unfolds with subtlety and understatement. That may make the product too slow and tame for thrill seekers, but fine for the palate of those who prefer queasiness nipping at their emotions. The two young girls turn in superb performances, with Thompson projecting childhood innocence despite her discomfort, while trying to understand the pain of all around her, and Sayer keeping the scales tantalizingly balanced between good and evil until “The Reveal” near the end.
MARTYRS LANE is available for streaming beginning Friday, Sept. 9 on Shudder.
Paula Beer as “Undine” in Christian Petzold’s UNDINE. An IFC Films Release. Courtesy of IFC Films.
A strange, suspenseful tale of love, betrayal and tragedy, UNDINE is a re-imagining of a fairy-tale myth, set in modern Berlin. Director/writer Christian Petzold (TRANSIT, PHOENIX, BARBARA) reunites the stars of his film TRANSIT, Paula Beers and Franz Rogowski, for this tale of mystery and romance, which allows UNDINE to capitalize on the remarkable chemistry between the two actors in that earlier film. UNDINE is a haunting tale with a mysterious aura and a touch of magical realism, beautifully constructed and shot, with gripping, heartbreaking performances.
Mystery, romance and myth mix in Christian Petzold’s UNDINE, inspired by the fairy-tale of the undine, or ondine. an always-female water spirit that lives forest lakes. Like many fairy tales, love and death are intertwined in the various tales of the undine, a supernatural creature who can gain a human soul if she marries a man, but if he leaves her, tragedy follows. The myth of the undine, with roots in Greek and German myths, has been the source of several mythic tales, including novels, operas, ballets and films, and was the inspiration for Hans Christian Anderson’s “Little Mermaid.” Petzold’s re-imagining is quite different from that one but he was inspired by his childhood memories of the dark fairy-tale story and Peter von Matt‘s non-fiction book “Romantic Treachery.”
This re-imagined story does not start with a mythic character in the water, although there is a lake later in the tale, but firmly grounded in the contemporary world. Undine (Paula Beers) is a historian who gives lectures on Berlin’s urban development and architectural history to touring groups and dignitaries, as a city historian in Berlin working for the Senate Administration for Urban Development. She gives her talks in front of a sprawling architectural model, and her lecture touch on politics (something common in Petzold’s films), but only obliquely, particularly on decisions made after the reunification of the city with the fall of East Germany.
The film opens, not with Undine’s work, but a break-up with her handsome boyfriend Johannes (Jacob Matschenz), which takes place at an outdoor cafe next to where she works. She is stunned that he is leaving her, apparently for someone else, and he delivers this blow with a casual, even callous manner, telling her she should have suspected it was coming. When she calmly says “If you leave, I’ll have to kill you. You know that,” he is not surprised, and even is irritated more than anything. The statement is shocking, but it is a reference to the myth and her name, and the way the scene is handled, our sympathy stays with her. When Undine repeats it, more as a statement of fact than a threat, he looks a bit more nervous. She has to go to work but insists he wait at the cafe until her break, so they can talk more.
Water finally enters the story when Undine returns to the cafe, and finds Johannes is nowhere in sight. As she searches for him, she approached by a man who was at her lecture, Christoph (Franz Rogowski), an industrial diver who is now desperate to talk to her. He follows Undine into the inside portion of the cafe as she looks for Johannes, where she pauses when a fish tank with a figure of a miniature diver suddenly catches her eye. An accidental bump topples the fish tank, soaking both her and Christoph when it crashes to the floor.
Christoph’s sudden appearance and the link to the figure in the fish tank, distract her Undine from heartbreak over Johannes. Trying to woo her, Christoph takes her to the lake to show her where he does dangerous diving work repairing and maintaining the turbines under the dam, and where she meets his diving partner Monika (Maryam Zaree). Later, Christoph and Undine go diving in the lake together, exploring the remains of the village that was flooded when the artificial lake was created, something which has a strange effect on Undine.
Director Petzold has a knack for re-imaging stories, something he successfully did with TRANSIT and PHOENIX, both of which transformed WWII historic tales. UNDINE may be Petzold’s most mysterious tale yet, but one that wraps up with a satisfying ending despite not answering all questions.
The scenes between Paula Beers and Franz Rogowski crackle with romantic tension but a sense of unease looms in the background. The underwater scenes are particularly magical, with mysterious, half-shaded ruins submerged by the creation of the dam and its lake. Cinematographer Hans Fromm works magic in these scenes but also adds mystery and romance in every carefully composed scenes. The feeling of myth floats in the background of several scenes, boosted perfectly by touches of magical realism, often suggested by the film’s subtle score. Inevitably, the romantic idyll is interrupted and the film turns darker and suspenseful, with twists and surprises.
UNDINE is a mysterious, magical, haunting film that could serve as a darker date movie but also offers a satisfying experience for anyone who loves fairy tales of the Grimm variety.
UNDINE, in German with English subtitles, opens Friday, June 4, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.
This time of year family’s at the forefront of the thoughts of many. Aside from being together (tough right now for some), the matriarch or patriarch is thinking about how to keep the home crew safe from harm and secure in their toasty beds. Unlike the Garrity clan from this week’s other big release GREENLAND, the Sharpe’s (well, mainly the papa) isn’t dealing with a planet-killing comet. His fears arise from the possible onslaught of stealthy intruders in the dead of night. It’s too bad that he doesn’t recall the quote from one of the founding fathers (maybe more of a cool uncle), Ben Franklin: “Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”. Still, it probably didn’t occur to him that his fears could inspire his whole “unit” to succumb to a BAD IMPULSE.
The story does indeed begin (well, after a nasty vignette of homicide/suicide) with the wholesome, seemingly happy Sharpe family outside their two-story plush home on this sunny day. Mom Christine (Sonya Walger) is trying to get on the road for a day trip with her eldest daughter, sixteen-year-old Angela (Abbi Ford), and her two sons, fourteen-year-old Mike (Nicholas Danner) and eight-year-old Sam (Oscar Debler). Dad Henry (Grant Bowler) can’t join them this time, though. Tonight’s a big “one on one” dinner with his boss (perhaps a promotion). Just as he goes back into the house he hears a knock at the door. It’s a somber middle-aged stranger dressed in a black suit and fedora. He introduces himself as Lou Branch (Paul Sorvino) and asks Henry if they could discuss his home’s security system. Branch insists it’s the state of the art hi-tech, but Henry’s got to get going and takes his card after the “pitch”. Dinner with his boss Mr. Reilly (Dan Lauria) ends abruptly when the real reason for the night is revealed. It seems that the company has lost a lot of money on a bad investment made for their biggest client. Reilly and the board decided that somebody has to take the blame, so….Despite the offer of a big “under the table” pay-off for silence, Henry angrily storms out. He’s so enraged he doesn’t hear the group of thugs that push their way in as he opens his front door. They deliver a vicious beating which causes Henry to awaken in the hospital. This spurs him to sign up with Branch’s security company. He, along with his wife, kids, and their live-in nanny/maid/cook Lucia (Stephanie Cayo) get microchips implanted under the skin, close to their permanent ankle “bracelets” which interact with the many mounted wall monitors in the home. Things slowly get back to normal, but only for a while. Sam now squashes ants for fun, while brother Mike retreats into his violent “single shooter” video games as he deals with several school bullies. Meanwhile, Angela’s getting tattoos and shoplifting. Christine (now the main breadwinner) is indulging in an office affair, as Henry boils with rage as he begins his at-home sales gig (maybe Lucia now digs this about him). Hmmm…could there be more to Branch’s “tech” than mere home security?
We can almost sense the strained effort of the cast to overcome this turgid trite tale of a self-destructing family unit. Bowler tries to roll “with the flow” of his inconsistent character. First, he’s got to be the easy-going 80s TV dad (cue the laugh track), then gets to nearly froth at the mouth at the big job dinner. He’s pretty dazed after the beating (head trauma is hinted at), but he eases into phone sales before lashing out with little reason. Then Bowler seems to be falling back into a SHINING riff as the punishing “Daddy-monster”. He does try to sell it, but it makes little sense. Ditto for the talented Walger (forever Penny of TV’s “Lost”) whose Christine is the perfect working mom, but her professional exec persona morphs into a petty “Queen B”, jealous of her flirty aide and too receptive to the “company creep”. Ford introduces Angela as the cute shy gal yearning to be the knock-out that catches the eye of the “school hunk”, but her character changes into one that would seem too much of a clichéd teen “B-girl” in a reboot of the POISON IVY flicks. In the case of Danner’s Mike, he conveys the fearful air of the perfect “patsy” for the school predator, but there’s little motivation for his attempts to bribe the bully before finally acting on his video game alter ego. And Debler’s Sam has little to do until he’s the “tot in danger’ for the story’s finale. Oh, 15 minutes in we’re introduced to the unofficial family member as Cayo plays a caretaker who appears to have stepped right off the fashion show runway. She seems to be there only as a temptation for papa, as we wonder about her aggressive pursuit of him as he naps on the couch. As for the biggest “name” in the cast, Sorvino tries to bring a bit of sinister energy to Branch but comes off as a cross between Willy Loman and a menacing 1930s school headmaster (with a touch of Mitchum from NIGHT OF THE HUNTER). He looks to be trouble right on Henry’s doorstep, so it hard to fathom why he places so much trust in this somber sad-eyed salesman. And to make the whole thing a tad more strange and “arty”, James Landry Hebert (the giggly tire deflator in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD) pops up in multiple creepy small roles, usually leering at Angela.
Director Michelle Danner attempts to wring some drama from the predictable script from Jason Chase Tyrrell, but the film is often just “spinning its wheels” until the big “surprise” climax we can see coming from miles away. Perhaps they were hoping for an “edgier” take on THE SHINING or AMERICAN BEAUTY, but it feels like a very drawn-out episode of a second-tier TV anthology like “The Hitchhiker” or “Tales of the Unexpected”. The movie wants to stun and shock, but often chooses to wallow in clumsy ugliness. If you’re thinking about spending 100 minutes (and the VOD fee) on this, do your best to squelch that extremely BAD IMPULSE.
One Half Out of Four
BAD IMPULSE is available as a Video-On-Demand via most streaming apps and platforms
The title of the historical drama THE LITTLE STRANGER is the same as an old-fashioned way to reference a baby, as in “awaiting the arrival of a little stranger.” But there are no babies or ones on the way in this dark moody film, although there are some spooky goings-on about children in the dim, misty past, particularly the childhood remembrances of a visitor now returned as a doctor to care for the members of the aristocratic Ayers family in their dark crumbling mansion.
Abrahamson’s previous film was ROOM, an acclaimed drama that was a scary, taut thriller and a deep psychological drive into the experience of a woman and child held captive for years by an abuser. That drama was so riveting, it is no surprise expectations were high for this one.
However, anyone expecting either another ROOM, or even THE OTHERS or JANE EYRE, will be disappointed with director Lenny Abrahamson’s THE LITTLE STRANGER. A moody, brooding historic drama set in 1930s England, the film is filled with foreboding but leaves the viewer in suspense.
Doctor Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson) is called to Hundreds Hall, the once-grand mansion of the aristocratic Ayres family mansion in rural England to tend to an illness. When the doctor arrives at the home of the old aristocratic family, he is shocked by the state of the house. He is greeted at the door by Caroline Ayres (Ruth Wilson), who scoffs at the doctor’s surprise that it is not one of the servants opening the door. The only servant the once-wealthy family now employs is a young girl, who works as maid and cook, and who, it turns out, is the patient. Having dealt kindly with the servant girl, who was suffering from nervousness and home-sick more than anything, the doctor offers to treat the family heir, Roderick Ayres (Will Poulter), a World War I veteran badly burned and disfigured, and still battling a painful leg injury. The family is reluctant at first to accept Dr. Faraday’s offer but finally agrees when the doctor tells them there would be no charge as it would help with some research he is doing on a particular treatment.
How the mighty have fallen and the shifting fate of the British upper class between the wars is a theme in this drama but not the only one. That change in social structure has been touched on in GOSFORD PARK and the BBS series “Downton Abbey” but this is a much darker version. But a major focus is not on the fall of the house of Ayres, a proud family still regarded warmly by the locals, but on the psychological goings-on with the doctor. His mother had been a servant in the grand house in its heyday, and a childhood visit to the house for a grand garden party instilled in him a fascination with the Ayres and a longing for the house. As Dr. Faraday becomes a part of the Ayres family’s lives, strange tensions arrives and strange occurrences begin to unfold.
THE LITTLE STRANGER certainly has the goods as far as cast, with Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Charlotte Rampling, and Will Poulter in the lead roles. There are disturbing things and creepy occurrences. If only the film had a more focused script and director Abrahamson had a better sense of what he wanted his film to be. As it is, it wavers between ghost story, Gothic thriller, moody historic commentary on the fall of the British class system. Because it keeps hinting it is one or the others of these genres, it fails to gel around anything and leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied and somehow cheated of a promised emotional payoff. It is tense, moody, edgy throughout until it ends with no real resolution or even a big scare.
What’s more, the gripping trailer suggests an eerie ghost story or tale of buried secrets in a family of British aristocrats sinking into decay and financial ruin in the 1930s. The arrival of a local doctor into this closed, musty world hinted at scary, disturbing things. The film is based on the novel by Sarah Waters, adapted for the screen by Lucinda Coxon, who wrote THE DANISH GIRL. Why all this talent didn’t produce a more successful suspense film is the real mystery.
Cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland also delivers the goods, as does the excellent cast. Domhnall Gleeson is chilling and intriguing as the restrained yet charming doctor. Charlotte Rampling gives a fine performance as the chilly aristocrat, still vividly aware of the class difference between her family and the doctor, but unfailingly polite as she drops comments to remind him of his “place,” no matter how kind he has been to them. Ruth Wilson’s Caroline, on the other hand, comprehends how the world and their circumstances have changed, in a way neither her mother nor her brother do. Will Poulter is all pent-up frustration as her brother Roderick, the lord of the manor by inheritance, struggling to live up to family obligations while battling physical and mental pain from his war injuries, PTSD, and a growing madness.
The film has all the authentic period detail and perfect locations one could wish. Events unfold in a decaying manor house that was clearly once grand, grandeur we see in periodic flashbacks as Dr. Faraday returns time and again to memories of his childhood visit to the mansion where his mother worked as a servant, a visit none of the family recalls.
Through atmospheric photography, fine acting and taut pacing, THE LITTLE STRANGER successfully builds suspense to a fever pitch yet never pulls the trigger on all that build-up. It raises questions throughout yet never answers them, leaving at most hints about possible answers. The film feels like it wants to be Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” but can’t figure out how to get there, leaving the audience lost as well.
So many things are right about this eerie film, including the outstanding cast, that it is doubly frustrating when the film appears to just end without real resolution. As a fan of both historical dramas and Gothic ghost stories, I should be the right audience for this film. Yet, the film felt disappointing by its end. After building up a nail-biting suspense and hinting a hidden horrors, psychological or supernatural, it fails to commit to either of those paths, wavering between them until it merely rolls to an unsatisfying conclusion. There is death but no catharsis. Secrets remain hidden and no questions are answered.
THE LITTLE STRANGER opens Friday, August 31 at the Tivoli Theater.
