MAMA - dopey specter

Um... creepy as $&@/!. A ghost story set in the modern day with tentacles to the past and a gloomy future outlook takes center stage in the Guillermo del Toro produced Mama. Yes—dumb title—with equally dumb characters who bound around in the dark woods by themselves—with a spirit on the loose no less!? :)

Jessica Chastain is back. Never really left. She is ubiquitous. This time Chastain shows us yet another side of herself—a struggling, fuck the world bassist? Bravo! She does a good job but since her character is laced with irritating musician cliches she became a bit uninspired and predictable. Still though, it was interesting to view the short black haired, tattooed wannabe rock star make her debut. You may recognize the lead actor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, from HBO's Game of Thrones. He is relatively new on the scene but can hold his own. The young girls were good and hellish so your attention will hardly be elsewhere when they enter the frame. 

The overall story is quite basic and somewhat boring with the usual—ghost needs to find her physical body because she had unfinished business and now is super pissed kind of thing. Yet, this movie is creepy. I won't say scary, just effing creepy. The ghost is hideous, makes weird sounds and looks retarded. Forgive the insouciance. Nonetheless still viscerally disquieting. Don't expect a great movie but prepare for an hour and a half or so of disembodied detachment. 

PS: some other films I viewed recently

BROKEN CITY - watch the trailer and you will see the whole movie—gloomy, dark and boring

HYDE PARK ON HUDON - just plain amateurish filmmaking—awful  

Recommended Viewing: The Help - Zero Dark Thirty - Lawless - Headhunters

              Bob Scale: The Critic: 5.5   -   The Fan: 5.9

             MetaCritic: 58

 Rotten Tomatoes: 63

                    IMDB: 6.7

SILENT HOUSE - darkness manifest

Silent House was a surprise. Like Russian Ark, it's only ostensible predecessor, the film is comprised of only one shot, however I would question this notion two or three times throughout the film and the directors seem to indicate that it was multiple shots. Regardless, I found the "gimmick" to work very well for this particular film. It added a bizarre strangeness that the normal edit does not provide and consequently you get sucked into the horror. Personally, I found the cinematography to be sublimely done as well. There were multiple sequences and shots where I was left scratching my head asking, "how did they pull that off?"

Elizabeth Olsen is beautiful and quite the paragon of a scream queen. There were a few moments that I was slightly dubious towards her performance but given that she is new to acting and this film being a daunting acting challenge, I would say she did superbly. Like Martha Marcy May Marlene she was natural and understated but altogether captivating. The two male actors, on the other hand, were uneven. In moments they were believable and in others it felt like I was watching a high school student film - this could be the actors or the direction. This took me out of the dramatic tension a couple of times but not enough to ruin the film.

Is this a horror film? Not the usual kind, it more lies in the suspense genre, like Hitchcock's Rope. Silent House is a very dark tale indeed and by dark I mean all three meanings of the word. Most of the movie literally takes place in the dark, it contains a hidden mystery and the end is as unpleasant and dreadful as it could be. 

I'm startled (kinda) by the films I'm enjoying this year so far. All the cinema I have lauded the most have been found footage or gimmicky indie titles. Is a new generation of youthful filmmaking finally making it's way into our collective consciousness as permissible entertainment of value? I don't mean to imply that only young people are making these films, they just seem to have an air of adolescence coming into florescence. I had in principle dismissed found footage films and shaky cam atrocities right from the moment they became numerous and unspeakably annoying to sit through, but the interesting stories and inventive camera techniques are truly winning me over. I am excited to see what may be brewing on the horizon. 

Recommended Viewing: Martha Marcy May Marlene - Rope - Evil Dead

              Bob Scale: Objective: 7.5   -   Subjective: 8.3

             MetaCritic: 48

 Rotten Tomatoes: 49

                      IMDB: 5.5