Resurrection
Resurrection
Starring Rebecca Hall, Tim Roth, Grace Kaufman, Michael Esper
Directed by Andrew Semans
Starring Rebecca Hall, Tim Roth, Grace Kaufman, Michael Esper
Directed by Andrew Semans
While the horror genre often focuses on the fantastical - things that would never happen in real life - sometimes it delves into the real-life horrors people face on a daily basis. Haunted by past mistakes, past hurts, and past traumas can be more horrifying to people than a hockey-masked killer or some guy wielding a chainsaw. Those moments stick with us, shape us, and haunt us not just in our sleep but in our waking lives, and unlike a horror movie it doesn't end when the credits roll: it lingers for years and years, and we find ourselves living in our own horror movie. "Resurrection" is one such horror film - not one filled with jump scares and a unstoppable immortal evil, but rather a woman's unraveling over what happened to her in her past, leading herself - and the audience - to wonder what is real and what is taking place in her very fractured brain.
Margaret (Rebecca Hall) is a successful businesswoman who has all her ducks lined up in a perfect row: she's the single mother of soon-to-be college girl Abbie (Grace Kaufman), she's always polished and finely dressed and groomed, and she enjoys a little fling with married co-worker Peter (Michael Esper). Things seem to be going fine for her, but under the surface there's hints of past trauma: when she exercises, she does so like she's either running from someone or preparing to attack, and she keeps Abbie on a tight leash, oftentimes keeping her at home to keep her safe. Then, during a conference, we find out why: she encounters a man named David (Tim Roth) that sets her off, leading her to have a panic attack and running home in terror. She finally confronts David, who at first claims he doesn't know who she is, but then his smile exposes his lie and it's obvious that he doesn't just know her, but he did something unspeakable to her in the past. While she wants to kill David, she is still under his manipulative control, leading to a shocking revelation that turns Margaret's life upside down even more.
"Resurrection" is one of those unique films that serve as a slow-burn drama that slowly escalates to sheer horror in the most realistic sense: the horror of being haunted by a man who controlled you mentally and emotionally for years. That's what happened to Margaret - she was eighteen when she met the older David, and he went on to win over her parents which allowed her to move in with him and basically be his slave. He would make her perform "kindness" acts to prove her love to him which mostly consisted of humiliating her or causing her bodily harm, but she stuck with it because of the control he had over her psyche. She was finally able to break away from him and escape, and over twenty years later he's resurfaced to prove that he still has control over her, and even though she struggles with it, she finds herself still under his oppressive thumb, particularly due to a strange, creepy, and downright psychotic threat that he issues to her that doesn't make a lot of sense in the realm of reality, but in her eyes it's wholly plausible and the possible solution to one cataclysmic event that happened to her when she was with him.
A story like this is only as strong as those performing it, and there was none better than the repeatedly underestimated Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, who always dives into his projects head-first with complete abandon. Rebecca Hall isn't an actress who phones it in, as she's proven in films like "The Night House" and "The Gift," and she gives Margaret a whole different appearance than typical women in film who combat a psychopathic ex. Her mannerisms feel real and unique, and her physical presence itself is a thing of odd beauty: she starts off the film in polished dresses, standing tall, and full of confidence - but once she sees David, her entire physical facade changes to something akin to a woman who doesn't believe in herself. Her outfits become more wrinkled and large, her hair unkempt, her makeup gone, and she slouches around with her head hanging low - something far different from the strong woman she portrayed at the start of it. Then there's that grandiose monologue she delivers about what happened when she was with David, and it was one of those rare cinematic moments that had me enthralled simply because it was one seven-minute take of her explaining what happened as the camera never takes itself off her, and she does it so perfectly that you see what's happened to her in your mind's eye - a true mark of acting genius that once again proves why she's one of the best in the business.
Tim Roth has played both ends of the acting spectrum, going from a helpless victim in "Funny Games" to a diabolical villain in "The Incredible Hulk," and has proven his acting range time and again. Here, he's the supreme psychopath: a man who holds complete mental control over Margaret without even trying, threatening her with an unspeakable act that happened years earlier. He doesn't control her with loud threats of violent gestures, but with a calm demeanor that's somehow even more menacing and unnerving. Viewing the film from the outside you wonder how someone like David could control Margaret so completely that he convinces her to walk to work everyday barefoot, but only when you get into Margaret's headspace do you realize what hypnotic control David holds over her with just a few simple words - and Roth delivers it with evil glee.
Even though the film spirals to more outlandish events further on, it's still within the world of possibility through Margaret's eyes, which still makes the film an entirely plausible and believable film. On the peripheral this is accomplished with natural settings and colors, as everything looks "lived-in," meaning lots of subdued colors and hues that don't make it a dark fairytale nor a dystopian future, but relevant to the here-and-now. In fact, it's this use of cinematography that heightens the tale especially at the end, causing you to question Margaret's reality that she's residing in. Likewise the musical score is intense and deep, with sharp notes that denotes the underlying tension in her world that slowly threatens to unravel.
The Score: A
Margaret (Rebecca Hall) is a successful businesswoman who has all her ducks lined up in a perfect row: she's the single mother of soon-to-be college girl Abbie (Grace Kaufman), she's always polished and finely dressed and groomed, and she enjoys a little fling with married co-worker Peter (Michael Esper). Things seem to be going fine for her, but under the surface there's hints of past trauma: when she exercises, she does so like she's either running from someone or preparing to attack, and she keeps Abbie on a tight leash, oftentimes keeping her at home to keep her safe. Then, during a conference, we find out why: she encounters a man named David (Tim Roth) that sets her off, leading her to have a panic attack and running home in terror. She finally confronts David, who at first claims he doesn't know who she is, but then his smile exposes his lie and it's obvious that he doesn't just know her, but he did something unspeakable to her in the past. While she wants to kill David, she is still under his manipulative control, leading to a shocking revelation that turns Margaret's life upside down even more.
"Resurrection" is one of those unique films that serve as a slow-burn drama that slowly escalates to sheer horror in the most realistic sense: the horror of being haunted by a man who controlled you mentally and emotionally for years. That's what happened to Margaret - she was eighteen when she met the older David, and he went on to win over her parents which allowed her to move in with him and basically be his slave. He would make her perform "kindness" acts to prove her love to him which mostly consisted of humiliating her or causing her bodily harm, but she stuck with it because of the control he had over her psyche. She was finally able to break away from him and escape, and over twenty years later he's resurfaced to prove that he still has control over her, and even though she struggles with it, she finds herself still under his oppressive thumb, particularly due to a strange, creepy, and downright psychotic threat that he issues to her that doesn't make a lot of sense in the realm of reality, but in her eyes it's wholly plausible and the possible solution to one cataclysmic event that happened to her when she was with him.
A story like this is only as strong as those performing it, and there was none better than the repeatedly underestimated Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, who always dives into his projects head-first with complete abandon. Rebecca Hall isn't an actress who phones it in, as she's proven in films like "The Night House" and "The Gift," and she gives Margaret a whole different appearance than typical women in film who combat a psychopathic ex. Her mannerisms feel real and unique, and her physical presence itself is a thing of odd beauty: she starts off the film in polished dresses, standing tall, and full of confidence - but once she sees David, her entire physical facade changes to something akin to a woman who doesn't believe in herself. Her outfits become more wrinkled and large, her hair unkempt, her makeup gone, and she slouches around with her head hanging low - something far different from the strong woman she portrayed at the start of it. Then there's that grandiose monologue she delivers about what happened when she was with David, and it was one of those rare cinematic moments that had me enthralled simply because it was one seven-minute take of her explaining what happened as the camera never takes itself off her, and she does it so perfectly that you see what's happened to her in your mind's eye - a true mark of acting genius that once again proves why she's one of the best in the business.
Tim Roth has played both ends of the acting spectrum, going from a helpless victim in "Funny Games" to a diabolical villain in "The Incredible Hulk," and has proven his acting range time and again. Here, he's the supreme psychopath: a man who holds complete mental control over Margaret without even trying, threatening her with an unspeakable act that happened years earlier. He doesn't control her with loud threats of violent gestures, but with a calm demeanor that's somehow even more menacing and unnerving. Viewing the film from the outside you wonder how someone like David could control Margaret so completely that he convinces her to walk to work everyday barefoot, but only when you get into Margaret's headspace do you realize what hypnotic control David holds over her with just a few simple words - and Roth delivers it with evil glee.
Even though the film spirals to more outlandish events further on, it's still within the world of possibility through Margaret's eyes, which still makes the film an entirely plausible and believable film. On the peripheral this is accomplished with natural settings and colors, as everything looks "lived-in," meaning lots of subdued colors and hues that don't make it a dark fairytale nor a dystopian future, but relevant to the here-and-now. In fact, it's this use of cinematography that heightens the tale especially at the end, causing you to question Margaret's reality that she's residing in. Likewise the musical score is intense and deep, with sharp notes that denotes the underlying tension in her world that slowly threatens to unravel.
The Score: A
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