gabriel_sanchez
Joined Jul 2015
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Director Kevin Greutert has extensive experience editing genre films, his biggest job to date the editing of the billion-dollar franchise Saw, where he even got the chance directing the formulaic entries 6 and 7. 4 years later, he released the haunted-house horror film Jessabelle.
In this film, Sarah Snook does an average to mediocre job playing Jessabelle, a young woman that has to return to her old childhood house after a car accident leaves her paralyzed legs down. In dealing with a terrible father, she soon notices weird things in the house, and a terrible spirit tormenting her, while also finding hidden secrets from her mother's death.
The film has two plotlines: a mystery about Jessabelle's mother's death, and a tormented spirit causing havoc on Jessabelle. The hook gripping us has to do with how these lines interconnect in the end. And, fair point, for the most part, Jessabelle holds together with its spooky scenes and the story, although simple, is entertaining; like the plotlines, there are two main problems.
The first one is Sarah Snook and Jessabelle altogether. I don't know, man, but her acting was just not there for this film. She seems like she is trying hard to be sexy for no particular reason, always with that damn pout on her lips, it just feels so off. Sarah might have been trying something out of some shady directional guidance to look like a "naive young girl with childhood traumas", but who knows. Then there is the character Jessabelle itself, a girl that lost a lot of stuff out of the blue, but she just shrugs it off on the premise that she has some videotapes of her late mother. This dismissal of harsh events on a woman's life is just something a man would play out, and badly for that matter.
The second problem is the ending. Well, not what happens in the ending, but just that the movie just ends, no denouement, no "what happens after resolution", nothing. You get the final reveal, a quick last scene happens, and the movie ends on a weird, almost satirical tone. Out of tune with the horror-driven atmosphere the film had up until this point.
Past these detractors, Jessabelle is alright. It is chilling, like most haunted house features that play serious are, and the story is clever, but I guess Kevin Greutert was still too hooked up on Saw to try his own thing.
In this film, Sarah Snook does an average to mediocre job playing Jessabelle, a young woman that has to return to her old childhood house after a car accident leaves her paralyzed legs down. In dealing with a terrible father, she soon notices weird things in the house, and a terrible spirit tormenting her, while also finding hidden secrets from her mother's death.
The film has two plotlines: a mystery about Jessabelle's mother's death, and a tormented spirit causing havoc on Jessabelle. The hook gripping us has to do with how these lines interconnect in the end. And, fair point, for the most part, Jessabelle holds together with its spooky scenes and the story, although simple, is entertaining; like the plotlines, there are two main problems.
The first one is Sarah Snook and Jessabelle altogether. I don't know, man, but her acting was just not there for this film. She seems like she is trying hard to be sexy for no particular reason, always with that damn pout on her lips, it just feels so off. Sarah might have been trying something out of some shady directional guidance to look like a "naive young girl with childhood traumas", but who knows. Then there is the character Jessabelle itself, a girl that lost a lot of stuff out of the blue, but she just shrugs it off on the premise that she has some videotapes of her late mother. This dismissal of harsh events on a woman's life is just something a man would play out, and badly for that matter.
The second problem is the ending. Well, not what happens in the ending, but just that the movie just ends, no denouement, no "what happens after resolution", nothing. You get the final reveal, a quick last scene happens, and the movie ends on a weird, almost satirical tone. Out of tune with the horror-driven atmosphere the film had up until this point.
Past these detractors, Jessabelle is alright. It is chilling, like most haunted house features that play serious are, and the story is clever, but I guess Kevin Greutert was still too hooked up on Saw to try his own thing.
Ad Vitam is one of those films that might entertain casuals, appealing to their need of high-action scenes and over-the-top thrilling plot points, but critics should catch the flaws of the story upfront, and, through exposure, diminish the payoff of this film.
The story starts strong: Franck is a former GIGN agent and is hiding a secret. Because of this sin, he is being chased by some high-profile hitmen searching for a particular item. This premise appeals to any action thriller fan in the world, but unfortunately, Ad Vitam just does it all wrong.
First, we start in media res, which is a turn down. This means we start at the middle, then we jump back to get some backstory, then we are back to the present for the finale. This technique sometimes work, but I feel it does not for Ad Vitam. The change of pace is abrupt, and the backstory is not that thrilling altogether. It is like we start with an action thriller film, then we jump to a love story, then we jump back to what I can only call pure action.
The chemistry between characters Léo and Franck work, but only because of actress Stéphane Caillard. She gives her heart trying to make their relationship work onscreen, while Guillaume Cane is just this wood plank too traumatized by whatever his dad did - though, cudos to Canet for the emotion-packed scene when his friend Nico dies.
Then there are two big problems with this film: the plot and the villain.
The story is full of holes to keep what I call convenience suspense, which is when events serve the purpose of just keeping the protagonist alive, rather than playing out in a logical way. These type of events happen throughout the whole plotline of Ad Vitam, a series of unforgivable conveniences after the other. To give you an example of such events, imagine Villain has Protag overwhelmed at gunpoint, but Villain decides to let Protag live out of dumb decisions like a stupid, elaborate plan he wants to follow to the details (instead of adjusting to the situation), or out of pure pride or mockery, the old "I will let you live because I want to make you suffer" (rather than just winning altogether).
The plot seems to reach high-profile, scaling up towards Government conspiracy levels, but then things resolve in the most uninterested and low-key way possible. I started wondering how Franck would get out of the mess he got himself into, but what should I have hoped for: of course the story just disregards all the stakes it created, later focusing only on Franck and Léo.
And the villain ended up being a shocker, in a bad sense: a full transition from someone that the story introduced as a cunning man to a buffoon. Disappointing.
Director Rodolphe Lauga is a newbie on the industry, with only 4 entries into his portfolio. I think this lack of experience might have had a toll on the film performance.
Ad Vitam fails in most aspects, unredeemable. It starts out nicely but then raises the stakes high without creating payoff. Plot points are a series of off-track beats after another, culminating in an anticlimactic ending that does not make justice to the stakes at play.
The story starts strong: Franck is a former GIGN agent and is hiding a secret. Because of this sin, he is being chased by some high-profile hitmen searching for a particular item. This premise appeals to any action thriller fan in the world, but unfortunately, Ad Vitam just does it all wrong.
First, we start in media res, which is a turn down. This means we start at the middle, then we jump back to get some backstory, then we are back to the present for the finale. This technique sometimes work, but I feel it does not for Ad Vitam. The change of pace is abrupt, and the backstory is not that thrilling altogether. It is like we start with an action thriller film, then we jump to a love story, then we jump back to what I can only call pure action.
The chemistry between characters Léo and Franck work, but only because of actress Stéphane Caillard. She gives her heart trying to make their relationship work onscreen, while Guillaume Cane is just this wood plank too traumatized by whatever his dad did - though, cudos to Canet for the emotion-packed scene when his friend Nico dies.
Then there are two big problems with this film: the plot and the villain.
The story is full of holes to keep what I call convenience suspense, which is when events serve the purpose of just keeping the protagonist alive, rather than playing out in a logical way. These type of events happen throughout the whole plotline of Ad Vitam, a series of unforgivable conveniences after the other. To give you an example of such events, imagine Villain has Protag overwhelmed at gunpoint, but Villain decides to let Protag live out of dumb decisions like a stupid, elaborate plan he wants to follow to the details (instead of adjusting to the situation), or out of pure pride or mockery, the old "I will let you live because I want to make you suffer" (rather than just winning altogether).
The plot seems to reach high-profile, scaling up towards Government conspiracy levels, but then things resolve in the most uninterested and low-key way possible. I started wondering how Franck would get out of the mess he got himself into, but what should I have hoped for: of course the story just disregards all the stakes it created, later focusing only on Franck and Léo.
And the villain ended up being a shocker, in a bad sense: a full transition from someone that the story introduced as a cunning man to a buffoon. Disappointing.
Director Rodolphe Lauga is a newbie on the industry, with only 4 entries into his portfolio. I think this lack of experience might have had a toll on the film performance.
Ad Vitam fails in most aspects, unredeemable. It starts out nicely but then raises the stakes high without creating payoff. Plot points are a series of off-track beats after another, culminating in an anticlimactic ending that does not make justice to the stakes at play.
Director Ángel Gómez Hernández is a novelty in my roster, but we are talking about someone that has a solid portfolio of short films, so it seems. Don't Listen is his debut feature film, winning him 2 awards: best first work and best makeup and hairstyles. Does the film hold up to these premises or is it just Movie Politics? Well, both.
Don't Listen, originally titled Voces, is a Spanish psychological horror and haunting horror film about a family, Daniel, Sara, and their son Eric, who moves to a new house and, behold, the house is haunted. Soon, Eric is the first one to notice voices whispering darkness.
This film does not mess around. You start pretty much with no setup, but not in media res. You see, the story picks up some days after the family has moved to the haunted house and Eric is already listening to voices. The opening scene is a subtle but intense demonstration of the power the house has over anyone, and how high the stakes are.
And when I say this film doesn't mess around, I'm serious. The inciting incident will testify to this statement.
Haunted-house features are old school, a formula that has been reused over and over again in Cinema and Fiction in general. This recurrence happens because the formula works, it is engaging and satisfying. Yes, there are some cliches like why would some powerful being keep haunting people instead of just killing them, you could argue out of hatred, but yeah, it is pretty silly, however, the genre is successful. Don't Listen don't really reinvent haunted houses, in fact, it is pretty generic in this regard; its strength lies in how serious the plot gets.
Then there are some detractors: The subplot with Germán and his daughter Sofia lacks proper closure. Especially considering the credits scene, it feels like Voces sets up for more installments with these two characters, but it is unclear.
The story holds up for the most part, above average, but a bit self-pretentious. The final revelation is disturbing and climatic enough, but a bit gotcha-driven, giving the impression we just missed an obvious plot point.
And the climax challenge is kinda weak mainly because the overall goal is simplistic and the endurance to accomplish the goal is bogus. I'd rather Daniel, the protagonist, had to face the challenges.
Overall, Voces is a refreshing take on haunted house horror, a serious film trying to deliver something shocking, but at the same time revealing, a redemption story. Recommendable if you like foreign, Latin horror.
Don't Listen, originally titled Voces, is a Spanish psychological horror and haunting horror film about a family, Daniel, Sara, and their son Eric, who moves to a new house and, behold, the house is haunted. Soon, Eric is the first one to notice voices whispering darkness.
This film does not mess around. You start pretty much with no setup, but not in media res. You see, the story picks up some days after the family has moved to the haunted house and Eric is already listening to voices. The opening scene is a subtle but intense demonstration of the power the house has over anyone, and how high the stakes are.
And when I say this film doesn't mess around, I'm serious. The inciting incident will testify to this statement.
Haunted-house features are old school, a formula that has been reused over and over again in Cinema and Fiction in general. This recurrence happens because the formula works, it is engaging and satisfying. Yes, there are some cliches like why would some powerful being keep haunting people instead of just killing them, you could argue out of hatred, but yeah, it is pretty silly, however, the genre is successful. Don't Listen don't really reinvent haunted houses, in fact, it is pretty generic in this regard; its strength lies in how serious the plot gets.
Then there are some detractors: The subplot with Germán and his daughter Sofia lacks proper closure. Especially considering the credits scene, it feels like Voces sets up for more installments with these two characters, but it is unclear.
The story holds up for the most part, above average, but a bit self-pretentious. The final revelation is disturbing and climatic enough, but a bit gotcha-driven, giving the impression we just missed an obvious plot point.
And the climax challenge is kinda weak mainly because the overall goal is simplistic and the endurance to accomplish the goal is bogus. I'd rather Daniel, the protagonist, had to face the challenges.
Overall, Voces is a refreshing take on haunted house horror, a serious film trying to deliver something shocking, but at the same time revealing, a redemption story. Recommendable if you like foreign, Latin horror.