birth – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: And we have another Spanish movie, but this seems different.

Vampire Bat: Yes, this one is from Argentina, and so it is not like the other movies we watched earlier, from Spain.

Vampire Owl: Okay, so just like the one Porutuguese movie on this site is from Brazil and not from Portugal.

Vampire Bat: Yes, people tend to have such confusions when someone is mentioning the language used.

Vampire Owl: So, we are seeing a rise in French, Spanish, Korean and Chinese movies in comparison to the other foreign languages.

Vampire Bat: Yes, and I don’t think that you would be surprised about the Korean ones.

Vampire Owl: It is not surprise, because Korean films have been here for a long time.

Vampire Bat: We haven’t focused on the rest, even though we should have.

Vampire Owl: Well, times have changed, and things can be different.

Vampire Bat: Yes, we can further work on watching more such movies.

[Gets an orange cake and three glasses of blackcurrant shake].

What is the movie about? :: Lorenzo (Joaquin Furriel) is a fifty year old Argentinian painter who has been trying to rebuild his life, as he hasn’t been that successful with his career or the personal side, even though there has been no doubt about his talents. Julietta (Martina Gusman), his former student and love interest is now living with his friend Renato (Luciano Caceres), while Lorenzo marries a much younger Sigrid (Heidi Toini), a Norweginian biologist doing research in Argentina, who approaches him for an experiment, and later decide to move in with him. But there is a certain amount of anxiety related to the child going on there, and Lorenzo and Sigrid seem to be going apart. Sigrid who is a biologist, wants to have the baby at home, citing the possible infections in a hosptial, and for the same, she brings a Norwegian mid-wife who assisted in her mother’s delivery a long time ago. The baby is born, but the relationship between its father and mother is strained, and there is something strange going on with both of them.

So, what happens with the events here? :: It turns out that Sigrid doesn’t go out of her room or shows the baby to anyone else. She stay inside with the baby, and she is the pediatrician with the support of the mid-wife, much to the dismay of Lorenzo who doesn’t get to spend any time with the child, even after six months. She doesn’t allow him to take the boy to the hospital which makes him further depressed. When he finally takes the child to the hospital, she files a case of domestic violence, and makes sure that he can’t come near her or the baby. After that, she asks for divorce, and tries to keep him away using anything within the law that gives her the advantage as a woman. Now, the question remains if Lorenzo can finally meet him, because he feels that the boy who is with Sigrid is not their son, but somebody else. Is it the truth or just a feeling that he has? Is there a big mystery surrounding these incidents, or is he just hallucinating, as he is a person with a long history of being an alcoholic?

The defence of The Son :: The movie surely keeps one guessing, and there is a certain amount of skill being displayed here on not letting us know exactly what is happening. We are not sure whose side we should be on, because strangest of things do happen. But there is something about her which is not usual, because it is clear that she is playing the victim card as a woman to blame her husband for fake domestic abuse and everything else. As a biologist, something strange is going on with her, and we are still left in the dark about what is going on – with that, the movie is successful. The film also deals with the possibilities that someone could make use of, as far as laws helping a particular gender, religion, race or any such category is concerned – especially in the name of helping a group which seems to be brought into submission. It also talks about how judgmental people happen to be, as far as some cases are concerned, taking only one side with the help of law. At the same time, we have the suspense and twists in there.

The claws of flaw :: The film does have a certain amount of slow pace associated with it, but it is mostly solved by the short length of the movie. The feeling of danger is also absent in this movie, as we only suspect people being possessive, or having some minute problems, and nothing more. The ending also feels rather incomplete – it leaves too much for the audience to think about, and we feel like we left that movie without watching it completely. The movie could have been closer to horror rather than the other genres, but it doesn’t try to use the horror at all. Even those movies which don’t have any such inclination will try to do that, and this one leaves the idea behind completely. We feel that there is so much more that this movie could have done, as the stage was all set, and there was something in the background trying to take over at all times. There was enough around here to bring a special ingredient into the picture, which is not really there.

Performers of the soul :: Joaquin Furriel’s performance is the one thing that elevates the movie to another level. He looks solid as the painter and the one who is in some kind of problem almost all the time. We can relate to him as he seems to face situations which make no sense for him at all, even though he does leave enough for us to doubt him too – we lie there in between. Heidi Toini is very good as she goes on looking more or less like a psychotic person of science, someone who seems to be in control of everything biological, looking at even doctors as if they are not necessary. Martina Gusman also comes up with some quality performance as she tries to help the main character – the same can be said about Luciano Caceres in a lesser way, as he is not there for that much time in comparison. Then we only have Regina Lamm who speaks only in Norwegian, and we know nothing much about that – maybe someone who knows the language will bring some light into that if required.

How it finishes :: The Son might not be the first Spanish movie on this website, but is certainly the first Argentinian film around here. Despite a certain amount of weirdness associated with this movie, The Son does have enough to keep us guessing, as we wonder what is going on here, at all times. It also reminds us that things are not usually what they seem to be, and when one takes the side of a person who is also supported also by the law in the name of gender, race, religion or anything else, you have to look deep into it because things are not always what they seem to be. As of now, all the Spanish movies which I have watched did leave me with the same feeling. It should have more to do with my choice of movies, but it has been there. After all, the Spanish Football Team is also my favourite international team, and it is also a nation which I have always wanted to visit; you can add that feeling to both Spain and Argentina – maybe, one day, very long after the Corona restrictions, I will.

Release date: 2nd May 2019
Running time: 92 minutes
Directed by: Sebastian Schindel
Starring: Joaquin Furriel, Heidi Toini, Martina Gusman, Luciano Caceres, Regina Lamm

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: I remember having said this at the other world to save Lady Death‘s evil twin sister.

Vampire Bat: What? You mean to say that she used to be a damsel in distress?

Vampire Owl: Yes, she was in hell’s prison for pouring water into hellfire.

Vampire Bat: So, it is true that she used to work with firefighters during her exile among humans.

Vampire Owl: Yes, she even earned a medal for saving two dead bodies.

Vampire Bat: I don’t understand. How could she save dead bodies?

Vampire Owl: She worked with Lady Death to delay their soul transfer, letting them die in a plane crash a few days later.

Vampire Bat: And earned the medal for herself. She is the smart one indeed.

Vampire Owl: I have heard that this movie also has twins.

Vampire Bat: Yes, and one of them is the cool evil twin.

[Gets three cups of Wayanad tea with Patanjali Doodh Biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: Helen (Alanna LeVierge) is just another normal person who is working at a courier company which makes deliveries by bikes. Her best friend is Molly (Nina Kiri) who is an actress at her lover Ed’s (Adam Christie) drama company. Helen actually has a troubled mind due to the thoughts about her mother (Brooke Henderson) who tried to kill herself and the baby in her womb, coming to her regularly. A man named Roman (Michael Liipka) is in love with her, and orders more and more couriers from her to see her again, along with drawing pictures of her. Things seem to go just normally until she meets with an accident on the road which lands her on the hospital, and keeps her on the bed for some time. When she feels that things are better gets back to her normal life, there is a party arranged to her, but it just doesn’t seem normal anymore.

So, what happens next? :: Helen begins to have hallucinations of someone being with her, and sometimes, she wakes up at place where she has no memory of going. She regularly losses track of what she has been doing – among all things, there is her waking up at a parking lot with her bicycle, walking around the city in just a towel, and standing naked in front of her friends. They consult Doctor Headly (Kate Fenton) who has a scan and finds out that she has a tumour growing inside her. The biggest possibility here is that she had a twin and the other person got killed with the mother, but a part of it was growing inside her brain. The doctor fixes a date for operating and removing the tumour, and everyone assures her that things are going to be just fine. But it turns out that things are not the easy to get better.

And what is to follow with this adventure? :: With only a few days left for the operation, Helen has more visions of the twin who looks just like her except for the eyes. She also figures out that she has done terrible things to people under the control of her twin who wishes to get out and gain control of the body. She hopes to keep her evil twin out, but she just can’t, with her losing control of both her body and mind. She ties herself to the bed and locks the door, but it doesn’t stop her unborn twin sister from doing things that would make her life difficult. Molly figures out that there is something wrong about her than just a tumour, and confronts her, but the evil twin is not something which humans can figure out that well. So, how many others close to Helen will have to suffer because of the presence of her evil twin? Will it one day gain full control and get to live her life or can she, with the help of her best friend stop this menace early enough?

The defence of Let Her Out :: There is something interesting about how this one progresses, as we have that feeling of mystery in the way it is taken. Alanna LeVierge does a great job here as the protagonist on whom the movie is focused as the others just becomes random additions in comparison – she surely makes us feel the protagonist’s pain and sadness, and it is something which is not that common among these horror movies which are rather less noticed. The movie also has its scares, and with a dark setting, and with the protagonist having to face all these alone, there is the certainty of terror. A horror movie with an emotional side is nice – they never really try to develop on that situation of no hope though. There are also those moments which make us wonder if it is all in the mind – that is also a probability in these kinds of movies, isn’t it? At least up-to an extent – after all, there was a trauma there. There should be a day when these lesser known, lower budget horror movies should rise above the big ones.

The claws of flaw :: From what we have in this movie, we are all sure that more could be done. There has been so many options to add more and more scares here and there. Even the evil twin in the shower doesn’t appear when we need to be scared by her, and the final big event gets less than it should have while it could have actually transformed the movie into something else – such simple moments could have been utilized better to elevate this movie. We have seen what evil twins can do, from The Unborn to many more movies which have dealt with a similar idea. One also has to wonder if some of the characters in this movie are present more to be killed rather than to stay alive. Also the people who are facing a situation of life and death, just seem not to try hard enough to save their own lives. It would be nice to have a better development of this idea another time, because there is so much scope when concerning the same.

How it finishes :: There is the chance that this movie will remind one of the Chloe Grace Moretz starrer, Let Me In, which was one of the best vampire movies around, and maybe this title is also intended to make us feel some connection, but the relation is indeed more to The Unborn rather than any other. But you can’t deny that this movie does have a similar kind of an atmosphere prevailing, as our protagonist is also going through a winter in her life. It will surely feel like going through two different personalities, one evil and one good, but the movie is surely more than that, working on the vanishing twin syndrome. This is surely not going to get into any list of a favourites in the genre, as it is not something that will bring something that new or divergent for the horror of our times. Yet, Let Her Out is the flick that will have enough for most people looking for more horror fun, as evil once again finds a way.

Release date: 25th August 2016
Running time: 89 minutes
Directed by: Cody Calahan
Starring: Alanna LeVierge, Nina Kiri, Adam Christie, Kate Fenton, Michael Lipka, Brooke Henderson, Glen Reid, Deborah Jayne Reilly Smith, Kyle Hytonen, Paul McGinnis, Eric Picard, Rachel Sellan, Heather Dicke, Kerstin Bradler, Michael Francavilla