girl – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: Which type of mine are they talking about?

Vampire Bat: I don’t think that the usage is like that here.

Vampire Owl: I can think of a copper mine, gold mine or coal mine.

Vampire Bat: This is not a movie about that kind of a mine.

Vampire Owl: Okay, you are talking about a highly explosive land mine.

Vampire Bat: It is the thing which is used to refer to a something belonging to speaker, and will be related to nothing else.

Vampire Owl: It is disappointing. I was reading about the Romans using caltrops which were like land mines without explosions.

Vampire Bat: This movie surely has an angel belonging to the speaker, who is a mother, or rather mothers.

Vampire Owl: So, it is a daughter that they need.

Vampire Bat: Exactly, for it is about mothers and daughters.

[Gets a guava cake and three cups of white tea].

What is the movie about? :: Lizzie (Noomi Rapace) and Mike (Luke Evans) used to be husband and wife, but now they are looking for divorce, after having a strained relationship for years after the death of her second child a few days after birth, in a fire happening at the hospital. They are also fighting for the custody of their son Thomas (Finn Little) which has him disgusted, especially at the attitude of his mother, who hasn’t been the same after the death of his little sister. Lizzie who is working at a beauty parlour is not happy at what has happened, but doesn’t do anything to change things around, not socializing with people much, and trying to evade even people close to her. But as one day, when she goes to the birthday party of her son’s friend Jeremy (Indi Serafin), thinks change, as she feels that a girl Lola (Annika Whiteley) whom she sees there, is her daughter whom she thought, had died in the fire at the hospital.

So, what happens with the events here? :: Lizzie cannot sleep or concentrate in her work, because she feels that she cannot be wrong in this, and that Lola is really her daughter named Rosie. Initially, she doesn’t say this to anyone, and tries to get into the house where her possible lost daughter is staying, becoming friends with Claire (Yvonne Strahovski) who is planning move into another city, thus leaving her home open for sale. Lizzie poses as a buyer, and also makes use of his son’s friendship with the boy there. Claire’s husband Bernard (Richard Roxburgh) also hopes that she buys the house as soon as possible, and this allows Lizzie to be closer to Lola. Even though she seems to keep a distance in the beginning, can she keep herself away as the family is moving to their new home soon? Will Claire also know about this, and how will she react to Lizzie’s guess work? Is Lizzie out of her mind, as she once used to be?

The defence of Angel of Mine :: There is something about Angel of Mine which will keep you want to know what happens next. It is not just the need to know the truth about the death of a child and also on the life of one, but also about how Noomi Rapace and Yvonne Strahovski are going to handle this, and how their characters will go through this, as this is very much performance-oriented. The former has another huge performance of her career, and the latter follows really well. There are those twists which are more dramatic rather than thrilling here. The final moments are nice, and there is a fine emotional touch running through the whole movie – there is nothing that touches one’s feelings more than a mother’s love, other than the emotions of a mother who has lost her child. Here, we have the mother who has also lost her husband and is almost losing her other child, and has no social life at all – it is where emotions run high.

The claws of flaw :: The movie remains slow throughout its run-time, and there is nothing in there to make rise above that lack pace. The struggle to accelerate can be seen on many occasions, but it can’t escape the drag which it possesses from the time when this was supposed to be interesting – it could have been even one big thriller after that moment of feeling, but after that it doesn’t use those wings to fly, but stays grounded. Making this movie fast-paced was the first step towards getting more people to watch the whole thing without looking at somewhere else, because it is that kind of a topic, with some of the best acting performance lead by Noomi Rapace. The movie should have also added something in there as a clue, and this could have been more like an investigative thriller with the mother searching for her daughter who was supposed to be dead, but this movie never rises to that level, which sadly seems to be intentional.

Performers of the soul :: Noomi Rapace might be one of the most versatile actresses we have ever seen, first noticed with the Swedish movie adaptations of the Millennium series by Steig Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. For the common Hollywood audience, she is known to have played Madame Simza Heron in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus, the latter being one of the most solid performances in any alien movie, making us disappointed not to have her in the sequel Alien: Covenant. The Secrets We Keep and The Price are two more thrillers which are to come from here. While she is indeed brilliant here, we also have something of similar class from Yvonne Strahovski, the lady we know from I, Frankenstein among the demons. Luke Evans, the Dracula–Hobbit–Furious–NOL star is just there for namesake and nothing more.

How it finishes :: A remake of the 2008 French film titled Mark of an Angel, this version has also managed to have almost the same number of positive opinions from the critics, as the new version is supposed to have stayed close to original as much as possible. With Noomi Rapace around, one has to believe that the English version has to be stronger, as she has the habit of making everything better than they are supposed to be, as even the already wonderful Alien: Covenant was lifted to another level with her at centre of everything. Angel of Mine is the kind of movie which begins very slow, and keeps everything going without accelerating at any moment, with a realistic ending, keeping it close to life throughout its run. This is the kind of movie which is the best for the lovers of drama, and from a distance, it is also a partial, slow thriller. You can watch Angel of Mine and see how things work without pretensions.

Release date: 30th August 2019
Running time: 97 minutes
Directed by: Kim Farrant
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Yvonne Strahovski, Luke Evans, Richard Roxburgh, Rebecca Bower, Annika Whiteley, Finn Little, Emily Gruhl, Rob Collins, Indi Serafin, Tracy Mann, Richard Roxburgh, Mirko Grillini

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: I once went to this particular forest known for suicides.

Vampire Bat: And then what happened?

Vampire Owl: I just couldn’t live up-to its reputation as I had already died.

Vampire Bat: Even the undead can die, you know.

Vampire Owl: Yes, but the ghosts were against it. They told me that it is cheating.

Vampire Bat: Why did you even have to listen to them?

Vampire Owl: Well, they told me that they would transform me into a human.

Vampire Bat: What? It is so cruel. It would have been better to keep split personalities instead.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I just couldn’t bear being part of an inherently evil species. So, I said no.

Vampire Bat: I have to say that you did the right thing this time. The blood wars are coming, and we have to say no to more than one thing.

[Gets three cups of lemon tea with 50-50 biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) is spending her time with her fiance, Rob (Eoin Macken), and is having some happy moments of her life in her home in the United States of America when she gets an unexpected call from Japan. She is informed that her twin sister, Jess Price (again Natalie Dormer) is dead. The idea is that she was last seen going into Aokigahara forest known more as the Suicide Forest or Sea of Trees, and those who go there alone at night rarely come back as it is a place where people commit suicide. It is rather believed to be the most popular suicide destination in the world which has so many strange tales associated with it. The forest is known to be home to yurei or or rather the ghosts of Japanese mythology. It is also said that long ago, the elderly or unwell people were left to die in the forest, and the place had its dead bodies and ghosts from centuries ago. The place has that kind of a terrifying reputation.

So, what happens next? :: But that doesn’t stop Sara from looking for her sister, and despite the concerns of Rob, she travels to Japan, and after talking to the people at the school where she was teaching, gets to the hotel where Jess was staying. There she meets a man named Aiden (Taylor Kinney) with whom she share a drink and they become friends. After listening to her story, he tells her that he is a photographer and will accompany her to the forest. They are also to be accompanied by a guide named Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) whose presence will help them to get out of the forest if they lose their way or if anything goes wrong. As they go to the forest, Michi tells her that Jess should most probably be dead, and there is nothing changing the same. But Sara says that it is not possible, and as they are twins, she will somehow know if she was dead. She is quite convinced that her sister would never commit suicide.

And, what is to follow next in the adventure? :: After traveling for some time in the forest, they come across the tent which Jess had used, but it was nearing nightfall, and Michi tells them that they have to go back as soon as possible. But Sara is convinced that the best option for them is to stay there, as Jess might come back to the tent by night. But Michi tells her that it is not safe, as the forest has its own ghosts, and they will make her see things which will drive her mad, and it will be she who will be lost on the next day. With their best efforts not seeing anything good in the end, Aiden says that he will stay with her throughout the night, and Michi leaves them to what seems to be a complicated fate. So, by staying in the dark forest which is believed to have more spirits than people, can Sara finally find Jess, and can at least one of the two sisters return home alive from the forest? Well, it is not that simple as it seems to be.

The defence of The Forest :: Aokigahara Forest is a nice location for a change, and with the tales that are told about the same, we become more and more interesting in watching a horror movie based on the same location. Natalie Dormer does a very good job as the twins here, and we are glad to see her in two roles, and she does her job very well. Known the best for her work in Game of Thrones series and also in The Hunger Games, it is great to see the talented actress doing the big role in a horror movie. The forest is also a solid character by itself, as we see possibilities going endless from the beginning itself. It does bring the question about what really is the reality and what is the hallucination – something that the ghosts use to confuse its new preys. The visuals are nicely used to support the same, and we surely have to say that there is an attempt to go different here.

The claws of flaw :: The movie could have surely used more scares, especially with such a mysterious forest at the centre of everything – the site of tragedy and strange beliefs hasn’t got the due that it deserved. The Forest could have used more ghosts than any other movie, and the variety that it could have brought with its scares would have made it close to a masterpiece; but such an effort is certainly not made here. When such creepiness is around, you expect the scary side to hold on and get to be better, and it is something that you never see anywhere around here. This struggle to use the material in hand should feel strange for many viewers. It also has to be noted that other than Natalie Dormer, there is nothing much of a cast to do anything big. Maybe it is the lack of focus that bring the trouble rather than anything else, as we see the struggle towards the end from a movie which began so well.

How it finishes :: You will surely find The Forest to be a rather strange movie, which means that whether you like it or not, it is very difficult to ignore it. With Natalie Dormer in full form, you might expect more and more, and what you get might not satisfy you enough. If you consider the mystery elements more and the scares a little less, you will not find this one to be less interesting. As you think differently, you will find this movie to catch your attention with its divergence. After all, it is one reality that we have in our lives, and the inability to understand what is real and what is unreal, and what is good and what is evil, is something that should be scary even out of the limits of a horror movie. Well, this one is creepy enough, and you just need to read less number of reviews before watching this movie. You remember the movie Pet, which was different in its own way.

Release date: 8th January 2016
Running time: 93 minutes
Directed by: Jason Zada
Starring: Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Eoin Macken, Rina Takasaki, Noriko Sakura, Yûho Yamashita, James Owen