I saw this film a good couple of weeks ago. From that night to now I've been trying to figure out how to write about what I saw and how I felt about what happened. The truth is I'm not sure either way. I only know three things for sure;
1. It reminded me of Winter's Bone (a good thing)
2. It's a hell of a debut feature for Sean Durkin
3. I loved it.
The human mind makes no clear sense. Or at least it is similar to the deepest parts of the ocean, we can guess what goes on and in some cases know for sure but there is an ever present air of uncertainty and turbulence. We as a race are still trying to figure out our minds and what they spend their time doing. When you try and distill that uncertain world of the mind onto film it can turn into many things, disappointingly simplified cliches, awesome Lynchian levels of stylized madness or like this. What is this then? We start with Martha running off into the woods, away from a building with several sleeping bodies. She's then picked up by her sister who hasn't seen her for a very long time. Martha is damaged and her sister takes it slow letting her get comfortable as she waits for her baby sister to open up to her so there can be some sisterly love all around. But she has had an interesting past that is slowly unraveled as Martha tries to untangle the mess that is now her head. At times it seems that even Martha isn't sure what happened as new elements of her past pop up in her mind and she gradually gets more and more unstable.
There is nothing but stunning performances is in this film. From the increasingly desperate sister to the vulnerable Bambi-like Sarah they all pull their weight and no one is left behind. I feel like their's is some magnificent untold story behind every character. Hugh Dancy is surprisingly good as the white collar middle-class man (I say surprising mainly because I know him from Confessions of a Shopaholic). John Hawkes is brilliant as always, his character manages to be horrifically sinister and yet calm and controlling. The scene in which he sings 'Marcy's Song' is both mesmerizing and beautiful, yet deeply disturbing. But wait, there's more, Elizabeth Olsen is sublime. You can't help but be completely captivated by her.
The film is blue all over. The color is thoroughly embedded in the film and it give it a hazy dream-like quality. It's also snappily put together. Sounds and actions throw Martha back and forth between memory and current events at the drop of a hat making us feel as vulnerable as Martha is to her disturbing history. I was feeling paranoid at the end of the film and I'm not now, or have I ever been, involved in such questionable activities as these.
For me this film was close to faultless and when we get to the end of this year I'll be surprised if this isn't at least in my top five. You should really give it a go. Having said that it definitely isn't a film for all. It's ending is very open and to some it may just seem that they ran out of film and had to just stop making the picture. Their are many questions left unanswered. Martha is not an open book and there is never a scene where the sister hears all of Martha's internal turmoil. If that sounds fine by you and you fancy trying to get into the mind of a truly interesting group of people, I promise you that this film is truly stunning. If not it may make you feel just plain uncomfortable.
JO
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