Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief reviews on festival films, VR previews and other special event launches. This review comes from the Overlook Film Festival 2018.
Mysterious disappearances, spooky mansions and characters trapped in remote places are all standard tropes of horror movies. But in his latest film, Do not Leave Home director Michael Tully mixes those elements together with a good dose of auteur cinema, creating a dreamy and temperamental mix that becomes simultaneously simultaneously familiar and totally unique. 19659003] Modern horror tends to ping between the antics of terror of the dominant films and the more minimalist existential fear of The Witch or Ari Aster Hereditary . Both approaches have their own unique attractions, but Tully's film suggests a third path: a genre film style that encompasses atmosphere and mood, and then uses the tension it creates to explore its own particular themes and fascinations. In the case of Do not go home that means ideas about religion and guilt, resulting in a silent and disturbing movie that takes a subtle approach and stays with the audience long after it has finished. look. [19659004] What is the genre?
A surreal mental journey of Lynch in a thriller infused with a strong dose of religious background.
What is it about?
Do not go home tells the story of Melanie Thomas (Anna Margaret Hollyman), an artist who specializes in making finely detailed dioramas. For his latest project, he has created a series of pieces documenting famous disappearances in Ireland, including the case of a young woman named Siobhan. A few decades ago, Siobhan had her painting painted by Father Alistair Burke (Lalor Roddy), and soon after, it seemed to disappear from the face of the Earth, and her image in Burke's painting also disappeared from the canvas. While free from wrongdoing, Burke was linked to what was called an "evil miracle" and hid himself.
When a local art critic publishes an early review of Melanie's work, she receives a phone call from an associate of Father Burke. He is interested in buying the diorama about the disappearance of Siobhan, it turns out that he even wants to take Melanie to Ireland so that he can create a new commissioned piece. Immediately, Melanie feels that something is wrong when she arrives at the Gothic mansion that Burke calls home. The priest seems to be hiding something, and has periodic disagreements with Shelly (Helena Bereen), the woman who seems to keep Burke's affairs in order. Soon, Melanie has strange visions of hooded figures, and her strange dreams become increasingly inseparable from reality, until she realizes that she may be in very real danger.
What is it really about?
Writer and director Tully ( Septien Ping Pong Summer ) is interested in exploring various topics within the logic of the film's surreal dreams, but nothing stands out more than the good Catholic fault old-fashioned. Father Burke is tortured because of his affiliation with Siobhan's disappearance, and seems too eager to make amends, although the authorities concluded that he did not participate in the disappearance of the girl. Burke is constantly trying to open up to Melanie in what seem like half-measures of confession. One night, even late, he stumbles upon him and scourges himself in atonement something .
But the film also plays with the idea of art as something that can be used to replace our connection with the real world, instead of just reflecting it. Melanie seems to have nothing in her life, except for her work, and the only relationship portrayed in the film – her dynamic with the curator of the gallery that shows her work – is tense, at best. In the course of the film, she learns that people that their work documents are more important than the work itself, but it is not an easy lesson.
Is it good?
Do not go home is temperamental and atmospheric, an author horror movie that has the patience to slowly develop its story without worrying about the jumping screams or the great plot. For audiences more accustomed to the dizzying pace of conventional terror, that could be a nuisance, but the dreamy images of the film and Lynch's confusion have their own appeal. The film was filmed mainly in Ireland, and Tully and cinematographer Wyatt Garfield use evocative landscapes and misty marshes for maximum effect. Settling into the movie is like merging with Melanie's own uncertain mood, and as her creepy visions become more persistent, it's all too easy to feel the same terror she feels, particularly when the movie turns more bizarre in the latter. third.
It's a familiar formula, evoking classics like Rosemary & # 39; s Baby and Nicolas Roeg Do not Look Now (which Tully is intentionally checking with the title of his movie). But that does not undermine the pleasures of travel itself, and Tully is able to create a hypnotic film that offers its own unique pleasures, even when some of its inspirations are evident.
What should be qualified?
There is no gratuitous violence and zero sexual content. This movie could easily earn a PG.
How can I really see it?
She was recently chosen for theatrical distribution in the USA. UU., Whose launch is scheduled for the end of this year. Undoubtedly, it will be available for broadcast shortly after.
