Dark

Phenomenal performance by Whitney Able and the rest of the cast with great direction by Basile. One of the best arty indies I've seen this year. It's an atmospheric and intense emotional ride through the very disturbed brain of the main protagonist. I wish there were more movies made like this. It's also a terrifying and unsettling depiction of New York City during the blackout. I've read some comments where people complain about the film being too slow or too ambiguous. For me the gradual build and deliberate pacing is what set this film apart and allowed for me to really care about the main character. The finale of the film wouldn't have worked nearly as well if the buildup was rushed. I also really liked some of the ambiguous elements in the film. Today it seems like audiences want everything spelled out. The filmmakers here instead allow the audience to fill in some of the blanks which I find refreshing. Admittedly, this may not be everyone's cup of tea but I found it to be surprisingly well done. A very underrated thriller which I highly recommend.

I gave 3 stars because I spent so much time rolling my eyes watching this that I may have missed something worth seeing. There are few if any redeeming qualities associated with this film. I'm curious if it provided any inspiration for the 2019 film "The Wolf Hour" with Naomi Watts which is a far better film but still middle of the road for the genre. Skip this snooze fest.

Salutations. This title is marketed as Drama,Horror,Thriller. It's not horrific, or thrilling, so I suppose that leaves drama. It's a strange, cut and shopped together piece that takes the viewer through one night inside the head of a very disturbed young woman. She has no idea what's going on, and confesses the same; unfortunately, neither does the viewer.

The film gets stranger and more deliberately confusing as it goes on. I suspect this is in the name of art, but some shots are painfully long and uncomfortably self-indulgent.

I forced myself to watch it all, but frankly, I wouldn't recommend it. From the teaser 'lesbian sex scene' at the film's opening, through the distasteful running undercurrent of 'rape', to the final slide show of tenuously connected frames, it's not good cinema.

*** for actually getting me to watch it through.

This film rather took me by surprise. I went into this with no preconceived notions other than it was about the North American blackout of 2003 and had Alexandra Breckenridge (The Walking Dead) in it. This film hit me on a deeper level than expected and stayed with me for quite a few days after seeing it. It's portrayal of a young woman with mental issues, suffering from a very deep depression played to perfection by Whitney Able (Monsters) related to me. Knowing someone personally who dealt with depression, I thought the movie captured that state of mind completely. The subtle depiction of the lead, Kate's, slowly devolving emotional state through to it's brutal ending was uneasy to watch. I can see why some people may find the movie slow but I was gripped throughout because of the lead character. The acting is superb as well as the "jump cut" editing style and the cinematography, naturalistic and beautiful. The sound design, particularly in the second half, was really well done, especially considering most indie films usually fail on sound. It makes NY seem like a very intimidating place, at least in the main character's mind. Even though the film is set in NYC, it feels very much like a European film. Having grown up in the UK and loving a lot of art house films, most European cinema has never been plot-focused. European directors usually focus on the accurate representation of internal states, rather than external drives. This film's goal can be described in the same way and pulls it off quite successfully. It's definitely a movie that will not please everyone. It's not "entertaining" in the traditional movie sense but rather a cathartic, intimate experience for 93 minutes. If you like arty cinema with dark subject matter, you'll absolutely appreciate this indie gem.

Twenty-somethings Kate and Leah are in a rocky relationship when Leah plans on heading out of town. Kate lives in the heart of NYC, pretending to like it just to make her relationship survive. Once a blackout occurs, Kate starts to have an internal struggle on what to do without Leah and coping on her own. I would have rather had Leah stay during the blackout and Kate go out of town, but the actress that played Kate (Whitney Able) did a superb job at bringing out all of Kate's character flaws. Leah didn't show any character flaws while she was onscreen. There are some editing flaws - as in the sound doesn't match up correctly with the characters' lips on screen. This happens about five times in the movie. Check out this movie if you like psycho-dramas. I watched this on Netflix.