A Banquet

Greetings again from the darkness. For her first feature film, director Ruth Paxton tackles an ambitious story from writer Justin Bull. It's not an easy film to describe to someone who hasn't seen it, and it's even a bit of a challenge to have a discussion with anyone who has seen it. I'm not even sure whether to agree with the "horror" label, or if "psychological drama" is more accurate. It's all this uncertainty that keeps us watching the film, while also contributing to the dissatisfaction we feel at its conclusion.

Sienna Guillory stars as Holly, mother of two teenage daughters and caregiver to her very sick husband. The opening sequence shows the grizzly death that leaves Holly a widowed single mother. Betsey (Jessica Alexander) is fast-approaching college age and has a close relationship with her mother, while younger daughter Izzy (Ruby Stokes) is a developing ice skater who lives somewhat in the shadow of her big sister. This suburban family is rocked again when Betsey experiences an unexplained phenomenon under a blood moon after she drifts from the high school party she's attending.

Betsey's bizarre behavior goes far beyond the oddities we expect from teenagers. First of all, she refuses to eat. Not just vegetables, but anything. This goes on for weeks, and the most baffling part to mother Holly and the doctors (and viewers) is that Betsey doesn't lose weight. Despite multiple weigh-ins per day and zero food intake, she maintains a normal appearance. Betsey proclaims, "I'm not anorexic", and in our first clue, speaks of an impending cataclysmic event.

"It's coming" and "Not much longer" are the strange and vague predictions Betsey utters. All the while, Holly is doing what she can to help her daughter. Holly's mother June (Lindsay Duncan) arrives to offer advice and guidance, while Izzy is mostly left to her own devices as all attention is paid to mom's "special" daughter. The interaction between these four female characters crossing three generations is quite intriguing for us to watch unfold.

How do you fix something (or someone) when you don't know what the problem is? It's a frightening premise, and when it involves a teenager, it can glide into the horror realm. However, the film is overloaded with elements and possibilities: eating disorders, possession, exorcism, teenage body image, spiritual awakening, and even supernatural or alien presence. The film is so ambitious and always seems on the brink of entering the realm of excellence, yet it seems to fizzle at each crucial moment. When there is a break in the parent/child bond, the love and support of the parent is crucial, even if the ailment is a mystery.

I thought about this movie for a few days after I watched it and I came to one solid conclusion, "What was the point?". The acting was good, and the movie was intriguing and intense, but not in the ways that make for good cinema. The audience has to come away with a sense of satisfaction that their hour and a half wasn't wasted and I'm sorry, but I just can't say that about this movie. It's tiring, it requires a lot of patience and the pay off just isn't there. I get what they were trying to do but...no. It's just not happening with this movie.

If you are patient and can stand long periods of tedious camera shots where nothing happens, then this movie is for you. Everyone else will be bored to tears or worse, they'll end up asking, "What was the point?" like i did. I think that is the worst thing that can be said about any movie.

To the reviewers scoring this movie really high; Stop it.

It seems like there are a lot of disingenuous ratings for this movie ( take a look at their one movie review histories), probably by friends and family who think that scoring a movie high is doing these actors a favor. It isn't. It's deceiving people into thinking that this film is good when it is not.

Started slow and got slower as time went on. Seems like a pointless film to me. Doesn't entertain, doesn't provoke thought, doesn't provoke fear. Doesn't achieve anything, much better films out there, Next....

This story is a slow burn that only burns at the very end of the movie. When you're already so tired of the crap it's been spouting the entire time you're watching it. It's like an orgasm which was put on hold indefinitely. I regret that I didn't just fast forward all of these nonsensical gibberish right to the end. Cause even at the ending, there's not a single explanation for all of those crap they're throwing at the audience. This is a really good example for a bad psychological thriller. Slow, boring, no explanation, and have a crappy ending. Don't watch this piece of crap! Don't waste 1 hour and a half of your life for this garbage just like I did!

It PAINS me to rate this an average score, but damn that ending.

Absolutely no spoilers, but to ME, personally the climax, or more accurately, the last few moments, were such an incredible letdown. YOU or anyone may love it, and more power to you. So, I'm not really trying to discourage anyone from making it to the end. Hopefully, you'll get more out of it than me.

UP to that point...I really dug this movie. The atmosphere, tension building, acting, cinematography...ALL so top notch, you'd think you were watching a $50 million-dollar Hollywood film. In fact, I was so amazed during this movie, I was wondering why most Hollywood movies I see aren't half as good as this talent.

The film revolves around a family tragedy that leaves a single mom to raise her two daughters, the older of which is somehow transformed one night in the woods near a party she was attending and now...she won't eat. Okay, there's more to this, as expected, but her lack of eating, mood-swings and possible premonitions will increase alongside her mother's desperation to help her.

This is labelled as "horror," but I'd put it more as a slow-burn suspense/family drama. And I've seen movies like this before and no offense to this cast/crew, but much better. Such as the real horror movie, Raw. There was also a segment of the horror anthology, XX, called "The Box" - also, much better.

Still, it was fantastic to the end and I'll leave it up to you if you decide they did the story justice with their conclusion.

***

Final Thoughts: Completely different movie, but I would also compare this slightly to 2021's Malignant. And that's only a small part of A Banquet. Please know, I loved Malignant 3x more overall. Still, I felt the need to bring it up.