Denouement Renouement

Tag: 3.5 stars

  • Theme!: Disaster Movies — The Impossible (2012)

    By C. Ramsay

    María Belón, her husband Enrique Álvarez, and their three children went on vacation to Khao Lak, Thailand in December 2004, facing separation and near-death experiences when a massive tsunami devastated multiple countries in the region. Based on these real-life events, The Impossible follows the survival efforts of Naomi Watts as Dr. Maria Bennett, Ewan McGregor as her husband Henry, and their three young sons—Lucas, Thomas, and Simon—played by Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, and Oaklee Pendergast, respectively. Aside from some basic characterization, next to no time is spent with the family before the tsunami occurs, throwing the audience just as unexpectedly into the turmoil as the people in the film. A path to deeper characterization is achieved through exploring the misunderstandings and misjudgments that can arise in times of communal crisis, particularly when people are experiencing shock and do not have access to immediate medical treatment.

    The tsunami itself is harrowing, having been shot mostly using practical rather than digital effects to create an extended scene that results in Maria and Lucas being separated from Henry, Thomas, and Simon, with both groups being completely unsure of whether the others have survived. The degree of destruction is exemplified through different means, with close-ups generally being used to emphasize the panic, discomfort, exhaustion, fear, and overall sentimentality of the people at the forefront of the disaster, and much wider shots being used to capture how jarring the scope of the chaos is. The casualty makeup is quite graphic and there are a few deeply unpleasant sequences in which the gruesomeness of certain injuries is underscored rather than shied away from. What’s most gut-wrenching about the aftermath of something so suddenly incomprehensible are the minute details: the sound of a crying baby drifting away, a toy half-buried in debris, or torn clothing nestled at the top of a tree. The visuals of the film are designed to resolutely impact the audience, on our end triggering survival and organizational questions that are relevant but may not be readily answerable by following the people we do, allowing us to better identify with the confusion and worry that these characters experience.

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  • 2026 Release Review: Backrooms

    By C. Ramsay

    Having developed the web series of the same name throughout his teenage years, director Kane Parsons’ feature-length directorial debut Backrooms seeks to transliterate the appeal of his indie passion project to suitably extend it to a more commercial audience. Parsons’ willingness and excitement towards working with a variety of media, allowing him to mix approaches as he sees fit, has here resulted in an impressive collection of practical effects and built sets that help feed the environment for the actors and audience alike.

    The most notable component of the film is its incredible atmosphere, on which every other component relies to be successful in their own ways. The concept of the Backrooms, this sort of extradimensional, never-ending liminal space of mostly empty corridors and rooms, preys on a variety of broad and specific fears, and at times almost invites its audience to project our fears onto it as much as it can bring brand new sensations of fear to us. Shifting between the sense of confinement that can be felt through both narrow and open space, between feelings of disorientation and being watched, between the dread of the unknown or of the inability to see a threat hiding in plain sight, Parsons has orchestrated the creation of a nightmarish world that is fueled by displacement and helplessness. Viewers are repeatedly held to the POV of the cameras being used by the people within the Backrooms, giving the sense that we’re being used as human shields to protect the characters as they move through the hallways, rooms, pools, doors, and archways. Whatever might be lurking will meet us first, and the stress of this is amplified by the fact that more often than not what’s lurking is simply nothing at all.

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  • Hooptober 12: [REC] (2007)

    Film #31 — 5/5 Zombie Films; 6/6 Countries (Spain)

    By C. Ramsay

    Opening on a reporter and cameraman covering the night shift at a fire station, the viewer is dragged with them on a call to help an elderly woman trapped in her apartment, an excursion that culminates in the lockdown of the building due to the spread of a rabies-like virus that is contagious to humans. We stay within the point of view of Pablo, the cameraman, for nearly the entire film, forcing the viewer into the center of the action along with every other frantic character. The sense of helplessness experienced by the audience is made worse through having no choice but to move with Ángela, the reporter, and Pablo to keep up with the professionals who were meant to be captured in the first place, but not being able to contribute anything except for witnessing and documentation. The group we’re placed with has no expertise for the crisis and is constantly struggling to remain calm—even those with authority completely lack in the ability to do anything that might matter, though they try.

    Manuela Valesco, who plays Ángela, is extremely charismatic in her role, developing a combination of naivety and initiative that rounds out her characterization in places where others might remain stereotypes or caricatures. The makeup and practical effects are great, and though we see a lot, it’s constantly fragmented due to the camerawork, making us crave more. It helps that the colours of the building and most of the clothing are muted, allowing any blood to stand out.

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  • Hooptober 12: It Comes at Night (2017)

    Film #26 — 2/2 Post-Apocalyptic Films

    By C. Ramsay

    Opening in medias res, with high stakes and no information other than what is directly visible to the audience, It Comes at Night is a drawling, shambling, slow burn of a character study. Surprisingly relevant to the hyper paranoia that has festered since the arrival of COVID-19, the film seeks to escalate by exploiting the uncertainties of the audience and characters alike. We never get much context around what’s happening or why, we only get a vague idea: a disease has ravaged the world, or at least the microcosm accessible to us, and we are introduced to the aftermath through two families and their experiences.

    Bruegel the Elder’s The Triumph of Death is featured at the beginning of the film, a painting depicting a browning landscape, charred by fire and littered with bodies and their useless earthly possessions. Legions of undead have come to lay waste to people of all classes and backgrounds, whether they accept their fate or vie against it. As with the families we meet, there are options for how they can respond to the threat of death, but there is ultimately no real chance of escape.

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  • Hooptober 12: The Endless (2017)

    Film #23 — 2/3 Cult or Conspiracy Films

    By C. Ramsay

    Centered on two brothers struggling to make a living for themselves, considering instead a return to the cult they escaped from a few years prior, The Endless is most interested in the differences between found and blood family, and in the circumstances that amount to the sincerest forms of human connection.

    Being built around Lovecraftian inspiration, once the film finds its footing it really digs itself into its style, though it takes a bit of time to get there. The beginning brings in a touch of mockumentary approach that’s only in play for a couple of scenes and never really comes back, remaining mostly, but not quite, forgettable. The camerawork during the first half hour is also a bit off-putting and feels quite amateur, with lots of shaky cam and quick cuts being completely mismatched with the pace the film is actually moving at. Similarly, Aaron and Justin, the brothers, are not very well acted at first, though once they arrive back at the camp they’d previously fled, the camerawork and acting fit in much better. Surrounded by little absurdities that seem accepted by everyone without question except for the brothers, the initial mismatched pacing retroactively works better to underscore Aaron and Justin as being displaced in the world outside of the cult, as well as their unease within it. Realistically, the biggest and most consistent issue throughout the film is that everything is tinted, slightly desaturated, and tilt shifted the entire time under some misguided attempt to visually force the viewer into feeling what already comes naturally from the rest of the existing components.

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  • Hooptober 12: I Am Legend (2007)

    Film #21 — 2/5 Zombie Films; 8/9 Decades

    By C. Ramsay

    “Please say hello to me.”

    Considering the creatures in this adaptation of I Am Legend are stylistically hybridized as vampiric zombies, I’m considering it enough of a fit to be included in the Hooptober zombie category this year. 

    There’s a lot to like about this one, contrary to what some might argue. The pacing throughout most of the film is consistent and contributes to the atmosphere, blending introspective scenes with stress-inducing action sequences, and splicing in flashbacks during well-suited moments. The news segment that’s used to open the film, with the audio filtering in before we see the accompanying video, is great for providing enough exposition to inform the audience of what went wrong before cutting to the present day to allow us to visually witness the aftermath as we’re introduced to Will Smith’s Robert Neville, an immune army virologist. The worldbuilding layered into the advancing plot is rich, with extra details for information we’ve previously learned about being peppered in to shift or deepen context. The logistics of how Neville gets through his days are considered highly important, not only in how he physically survives and sustains himself, but also in what he does to try to stay sane as the supposedly last remaining uninfected person. Whichever expository details might be missing from inclusion as a focal point in different scenes can often be found in the set design, perhaps never outright discussed, but waiting nevertheless to be discovered in the background. The interior of Neville’s home, for example, is flooded with objects that are revelatory to his personality prior to the virus, something we’re never witness to otherwise, and which then also act to more deeply contextualize his current interests and goals. Although the score and soundtrack are good, and feel utilized to continue to round out Neville’s characterization, it’s their absence during key scenes that’s most effective. The quiet, occasionally accentuated by the sounds of rapid breathing or animalistic wails in the night, is what’s most deafening.

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