This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Truc Nguyen’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
The Human Experience
(You Won’t Be Alone)
You Won’t Be Alone is a film filled with gore. Described as a horror film, the scenes of this film are definitely not suitable for the light-hearted. There is an intense amount of blood and dark themes. This story follows a young girl who was kidnapped and forced into becoming Old Maid Maria’s hostage. Through her absence of a childhood, she longs to go against her captor and experience the life she would have had if she had not been taken. Due to this desire, she kills and takes the form of her victims. Contrary to her belief, most of her human experiences were a lot less desirable than she hoped. Eventually, she ends up with some sort of happiness as she finds a man who loves her even after knowing her secret—but it is all taken away as the man dies and their child is killed by her captor.
At first, this film was very shocking. It starts off super strong with an intense image of the Old Maid Maria all burnt and red. I understand that this image of the Old Maid was done on purpose to show that she was the obvious antagonist of the film due to our common perception that the villains always look the worst. The not-so-pleasing image of Old Maid Maria made it very certain to the audience who we were rooting against.
The choice of lighting of this film created a nostalgic and absent-minded feel. This fits the story as the main character was really never fully present as she experienced humanity. She was always in her head while the experiences happened to her instead of being a part of the experience. The only time where I felt that she was truly present and the lighting had more contrast was when she fell in love. In this moment, she was fully willing to experience humanity.
I did not expect to like this film. It came off too strong at first, but as it progressed, I found it very stimulating as I followed the storyline. I think it was beautifully built and the abundance of parallel scenes really enhanced the main character’s character. She starts out disgusted by every human impulse, but then eventually learns through similar scenes that there was beauty behind it as long as it was with the right person. I love how the direction of the film was made to where she experienced life through different species, also. And through those experiences, it further set in stone that she didn’t just want to settle for a simple reality as a dog, but she wanted something deeper (that was taken away from her as a child).
You Won’t Be Alone was a great film; it just got better as you watched and everything was really tied together in the end. I would not watch it again, though, because I don’t think the second viewing experience would beat or even equal the first. I also think this film isn’t something everyone would enjoy, so I wouldn’t recommend it. However, personally, it was a solid viewing.