Year of Release: 2023
Director: Daina Reid
Starring: Sarah Snook, Lily LaTorre, Damon Herriman, Greta Scacchi, Neil Melville, D'Arcy Carty, Trevor Jamieson, Shabana Azeez, Georgina Naidu, Naomi Rukavina, Maurial Spearim
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review
Director Daina Reid has made a career for herself primarily working on tv shows, including high profile series such as "The Handmaid's Tale", "Shining Girls" and "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries", to name but a few. "Run Rabbit Run" is her feature sophomore endeavor, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival of 2023, benefiting from the attention its lead actor Sarah Snook had been experiencing courtesy of another tv show, in this case HBO's "Succession". The film follows the story of Sarah, a recently divorced fertility doctor. She lives with her daughter Mia who is celebrating her seventh birthday. They both find a rabbit which they assume is a gift from Mia's father, Peter. Mia's behavior soon becomes increasingly strange, and she starts wearing a rabbit mask she made herself, one that she refuses to take off even when Sarah asks her to. Sarah also starts experiencing hallucinations, and her nightmares grow more intense. Sarah takes Mia to visit her own mother, who is living in assisted living, now that her father has passed away and she has dementia. Joan keeps addressing Mia as "Alice", who turns out is the younger sister of Sarah who disappeared around the same age as Mia currently is. As Sarah and Mia are staying in her childhood home, Sarah's hallucinations increase and her relationship with Mia becomes even more strained. Through these hallucinations Sarah hints at what may have happened to her sister.
"Run Rabbit Run" who is written by celebrated author Hannah Kent suffers from a case of trying to be a hybrid gestation of a M. Night Shyamalan film married with a Jane Campion sensibility, which sadly produces something that is neither particularly suspenseful, nor particularly insightful about the relationship between mothers and daughters, or even between sisters. The film starts interestingly enough, focusing on a character that isn't necessarily affable or even likable, which is how Sarah comes across. However the hints of eeriness that are supposed to come from Mia's behavior are randomly presented, and are more grating than actually scary. Both the director and writer, fail to actually showcase what type of relationship exists between mother and daughter, both coming across as strangers who are just now getting together. It's difficult to understand much about these characters, since not much dimension is given to either of them, in terms of their motivations, dynamics with others and even affections, the same extending for the supporting characters, which includes the absent ex-husband and even Joan, the matriarch of the family (who is played by the always underrated Greta Scacchi). Gore Verbinski was able to do quite a bit more with "The Ring", which also featured a single mother fantastically played by Naomi Watts, dealing with a supernatural entity which was threatening both her and Aidan, her son. In the end, "Run Rabbit Run" doesn't satisfy from the perspective of understanding the relationship between all these characters, the same way that the supposedly shocking revelation doesn't really come across as one. Sarah Snook who is usually a reliable performer, feels a bit lost in the middle of this film that can't quite find its tone, with Lily LaTorre and Greta Scacchi managing to be far more effective in their performances. The production team also has its fair share of issues, with a rather underwhelming cinematography from Bonnie Elliott and a lackluster production design from Vanessa Cerne. Ultimately it's simply not a great viewing experience.
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