Year of Release: 2021
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, Amy Madigan, Sawyer Jones, Cody Davis, Ken Kramer, Jesse Downs
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
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Synopsis and Review:
Writer/Director Scott Cooper is back, following his well received "Hostiles", which premiered in 2017 and featured great performances from Christian Bale, Timothee Chalamet and Rosamund Pike. His new feature, is his first foray into supernatural/horror territory, and comes with the seal of production from the celebrated Guillermo Del Toro. The narrative takes place in Oregon, and focuses on the life of young Lucas Weaver, a 12 year old who is having his fair share of challenges in life. His mom has passed away, and he has had to deal with a father who has drug addiction issues, not to mention he also has to protect his younger brother, Aiden. Following a vicious attack his father and a friend suffer in an abandoned mine (where they were crafting meth), Lucas's life becomes even more stressful. He has to keep an eye on his father and brother, who are changing into something that he does not fully understand. All these events start having an effect on his behavior, which draws the attention of Julia Meadows, his teacher. She has recently returned to her hometown to live with her brother Paul, following the death of their father. And they both carry with them, a heavy burden of a abusive household. As Lucas's father condition worsens, and people investigate further, things start getting out of hand, with a series of unexplained deaths occurring.
Scott Cooper has managed to craft a very interesting directorial career, one where he has focused on characters that while charismatic and strong willed, have strayed from their potential, and are vying to get a shot at redemption, or at least, a somewhat normal life. That seems to be the case with Julia, who sees in Lucas an opportunity to save a child going through abuse, the type of rescue she longed for when she herself was growing up, and that sadly never came. The film also manages to pepper its narrative with the challenges of small communities, and how systemic poverty forces people into certain cycles of self destruction. One of the most interesting aspects of this film, is how Scott Cooper manages to define the community, and the environment itself in which these characters exist. It's gloom, dark and seemingly without hope, something that is exacerbated as the more fantastical elements of the narrative start making themselves more visible. The director smartly manages to use darkness to convey the sense of menace and latent violence that is threatening the small community, keeping the fantastical creature in the shadows (and the creature definitely has some influences from Guillermo Del Toro's universe and aesthetic). The mythological/monstrous part of the film, never topples its narrative, becoming very much part of the progression of the narrative, even if does have its more brutal moments. It's a film that has limitations when it comes to the definition of some characters, particularly Paul as played by Jesse Plemons, but Plemons, alongside the wonderful Keri Russell, Jeremy T. Thomas and Graham Greene in a somewhat smaller role, manage to bring these characters to life, quite convincingly and efficiently. The production team on this film is impeccable, including the beautiful cinematography from Florian Hoffmeister, the score from Javier Navarrete and editing by Dylan Tichenor. Worth watching.
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