I thought I was going to be productive tonight, but nope!
If it doesn't work as fully as, say, Ex Machina, I'd probably chalk it up to going surreal in the last act without letting the home-invasion angle go. At some point, the dream-like atmosphere just deflates the tension.
The first forest sequence, though, it's a 12-minute masterpiece in wordless suspense filmmaking β I've seen a lot of people trying to pull off the same beats it does and failingβ¦
Talky and stagey as it is, it's also fairly heartwarming and gently boundary-pushing, even if not by much, so as not to alienate the silver audience. Glad that Emma Thompson was brave enough to take on this role, as well as providing a platform for Daryl McCormack to shine for a bit. It's not much, but it's good enough and it has its heart on the right place.
Now... the twist is that the last minute is waaaaay, WAAAAAY more interesting than whatever came before it and just about nudges it beyond the 2-star rating I would have given it before. The sun rising over the village, the lovers kissing over the barbed wire, the little brother wounded like the lamb he loved. It's beautiful bleeding-heart poetry and I hope David Pinheiro Vicente goes more on that direction for his next project.
The thing is, I just don'tβ¦
