The Ones Below

In 2016, a British thriller entitled The Ones Below was released, though it originally first screened at the Toronto Film Festival the previous year. While it did sweep under the radar, there is a good chance that this film will go on to be a cult classic in the near future. As for what I think, while it did leave me horrified the first time watching it, I will admit that it isn't without its flaws. That being said, what does make the film intriguing to watch is how it tackles the frustrating anxieties of early motherhood, and subverts these themes with paranoia.

The film revolves around a married couple named Kate and Justin who have recently had a baby. However, when new neighbors named Theresa and Jon have moved into the flat beneath theirs, tensions begin to rise with their friendship regarding said newborn. Writer/director David Farr succeeds very well at showcasing the hormones and emotions of a mother during a time like this. Although if you may be ecstatic that you've made a human being of your own, it doesn't necessarily mean you automatically know what you're doing in a situation where your life could be at risk. In addition, given Kate and Theresa's friendship, Farr manages to make even the simplest conversations feel innocent albeit awkward and unsettling.

With two suspicious neighbors comes idiosyncratic character traits, and compared to the more seemingly light hearted Theresa, Jon is more abrupt, making Kate and Justin's interactions with them become all the more disturbing. In fact, after the baby Billy is born, odd occurrences and disturbing noises keep on arising, which nearly drive the couple nuts: from car honks, to muffled baby monitor sounds, to even a cat slinking underfoot. With tense moments like these, there are definite comparisons to be made with Rosemary's Baby, let alone by the subject matter and the lean and brisk tone. Not to mention, it's great to see a horror movie nowadays without a single jump scare, or even gore for that matter; nice change in age.

In terms of negatives, while the twist is very well structured and horrifying, the climax does drag on at points to get there, and after a while it does become a little too obvious what the outcome will be. Also, even during the film's second act, Theresa and Jon's intent becomes pretty obvious if not inevitable, and even with all the stakes that occur, the narrative really starts to reveal how straightforward it really is. Nonetheless, I still recommend The Ones Below for its unsettling atmosphere, subversive mix of parenthood and paranoia, and its traumatic twist that will give you trust issues for the rest of your life. The truth is that there are plenty of people out there who will end up causing you suffering for the sickest of reasons, and this film understands just how risky raising a child can really be.

Partly funded by the BBC and premiering at the Toronto and London Film Festivals, The Ones Below is a demonstration of the lack of imagination in British cinematic language that's really disheartening. British cinema is often great from the eyes of an auteur with something to say, such as Mike Leigh, Terence Davies and Shane Meadows, but when it comes to something like this which is supposed to simply be a piece of thrilling entertainment, it's disappointingly one- dimensional. I yearn for more emerging voices to get this type of exposure instead. The Ones Below is like a very good and expensive student film. Had it been conceived from a recent graduate, it'd earn a bit more of a pass. Instead, it's overthought and underdeveloped, too often opting for cheaper tricks and easier melodrama.

Clémence Poésy, a familiar face from her role in Harry Potter, In Bruges and 127 Hours, plays mother-to-be Kate who just moved into the top half of a duplex with her husband Justin, played by Stephen Campbell Moore. Apprehensive about their downstairs neighbours, they avoid them until Kate discovers that Teresa, played by Laura Birn, is equally far along with her pregnancy. They swiftly become friends and she invites Teresa and her intimidating husband Jon, played by David Morrissey, upstairs for dinner. Though friction with conflicting personalities initially rustles tensions, it's an unbearable tragedy at the dinner's end that sparks the film's ultimate story of parental paranoia in the vein of Roman Polanski's memorable motifs on women in apartments.

To be fair, Poésy really commits to the film in the first performance I've seen from her which isn't somewhere between a bit part and a supporting character. She combats the melodrama with a rawness that really benefits the film. The problems come in the film's contrivances and staging where each actor's hesitations and reactions are over measured. Perhaps this is due to writer/director David Farr's previous theatre background, as it very clearly shows his lack of nuance when it comes to the bigger screen. Throughout the whole aforementioned dinner sequence, Morrisey's eyes are shrouded in shadows as if the idea of his menacing nature couldn't have been more subtly communicated. But admittedly, in its simplicity it is entertaining and engaging, but it's not satisfying to be so spoon-fed. The questions it asks are superficial albeit acceptable if this was designed for Britain's smaller screen.

There's not an inch of the frame wasted as they try desperately to make this two-story narrative cinematic. It works, and it's thoroughly attractive, but it's almost too full and vibrant, not reflecting the rough tone that the film should have. Spending money on lights and cranes which are just used for unmotivated movement remove the film of a human grounding that it's begging for. It does offer this reflection of how Kate feels later on as it grows more rugged and desperate, but it doesn't stitch together in a way that really puts you in her head, and by that point it's too late. The scenes feel more like examples of feelings rather than following a strong narrative thread, developing the characters beyond well worn archetypes. The language it uses is based in clichés rather than speaking a compelling voice of its own.

Otherwise it's trying too hard to cover all ground as it shoehorns in a subplot regarding Kate's relationship with her parents. We have a distant mother who's unfathomably selfish and then some kind of connection with her dead father as she for some reason must brave the weather to visit her grave and leave her child in the hands of someone she explicitly doesn't trust. The film often defies logic for the sake of an empty gravitas. It's piling lots of ideas about relationships in social classes and anxieties about motherhood but never really exploring a single theme to a particular result. In fact, its terrifying conclusion ends up being a relieving best case scenario. It'd be unfair to call it a complete mess and its effort isn't wasted. I just expect much better things from well-resourced British cinema that doesn't resort to appealing to the least perceptive people in the room.

6/10

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I'm a big fan of cult classics such as Rosemary's Baby so when I saw the trailer to this movie, I was intrigued.

The first third of the movie was quite well done; the mood was creepy and weird as intended, the actors were marvelous; the suspense really drew me in and I wanted to find out how this movie would pan out.

Then it got reeeeeally slow. It dragged on and the repetitiveness made it very hard to push through. Midway through, the mystery of the plot has already become quite obvious and predictable as it has been constantly spelled out to us over and over again. So by the end, the only way to save this movie is for an unexpected twist instead of the predictable ending. But no twist. Just a creepy, linear story with ok acting.

Character buildup. For most of the movie. Too bad they are so two dimensional it hurts, some drastic change of behavior is supposed to be intriguing when it's just a welcomed announcement that things are actually moving towards the ending, which is obvious right from the start.

Don't miss the blatant, obnoxious plot device near the middle, or you might actually get surprised by some detail at the end. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle even had that more subtly, in addition with a decently paced script. Which is another crappy movie, but fairly entertaining for its time.

Acting isn't bad, until daddy throws his fit, but the plot is bad, predictable, and dare I say, unimaginative. A TV movie from the 80's.

I think David Farr gave more time to this thriller than to his much- anticipated and more popular le Carre adaptation, The Night Manager. For this one is a real winner between the two, despite of the variance in genre.

Kate (Poesy) and Justin (Moore) are a sweet preggers couple living in peace in the upper part of a duplex apartment. The newest renters of the lower part are another sweet but superstitious couple from Germany, Theresa (Birn) and Jon (Morrissey), also expecting a child. Soon after they move in. an emotionally devastating incident brings endless grief to the ones below and paranoia to their luckier neighbors above, especially to Kate. Because Kate thinks that Theresa and Jon might have some ulterior motive. And then the plot starts moving swiftly, exhibiting some great cinematography and writing as it moves.

Poesy is excellent in her enactment of an anxious mother of a newborn. Her petite appearance helps and so does the support from her spouse who is a rather normal husband torn between work and personal life. Theresa and Jon steal the limelight, and the writer aptly denotes and connects them with the color yellow that is effervescent of their apparent darker side.

The story involves human nature and the extent to which it can go when stricken with sorrow. Consequences and damages stop being concerns as the person quests to achieve what is not rationally right and what can only be achieved through crime. Farr has written the story well, and with the backing that he gets from the camera and score, he definitely places his attempt in the good baskets.

BOTTOM LINE: David Farr's The Ones Below is a finely made film with some good actors playing natural and slightly eccentric characters who are just trying to manage life... and death. A good afternoon watch at the cinema.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES