Get
REVIEWS
your film into the Ghent Film Festival!
Martha Marcy May Marlene UN CERTAIN REGARD The 38th Ghent International Film Festival will once again include
the widest possible selection of films from all over the world, mainly focusing on fiction films (feature length) and, to a lesser extent, to Belgian shorts, documentary (mainly film- or music-linked themes) and animated pictures.
If you want to submit a film for the festival’s 38th edition (11-22 October
2011) programme, please send a screener (multi-region DVD) along with the entry form (
www.filmfestival.be/pdf/ENTRY_FORM.pdf) and some brief info on the film and its makers before August 1st Wim De Witte.
, 2011 to
www.worldsoundtrackacademy.com www.filmfestival.be
US. 2011. 101mins Director/screenplay Sean Durkin Production companies Borderline Films, FilmHaven Entertainment, MayBach Cunningham, This is That Worldwide distribution Fox Searchlight, Fox International Producers Josh Mond, Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach Executive producers Ted Hope, Matt Palmieri, Alexander Schepsman, Saemi Kim, Saerom Kim Cinematography Jody Lee Lipes Production designer Chad Keith Editor Zac Stuart-Pontier Music Daniel Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans Main cast Elizabeth Olsen, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson
REVIEWED BY ANTHONY KAUFMAN
An expertly crafted exercise in cinematic storytelling, Martha Marcy May Marlene follows the plight of a young woman from a small commune-like cult in the north-east US. The film — which was in competition at Sundance — confirms the rising talents of its makers, the producing-directing team of Borderline Films, which includes director Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Antonio Campos, and impressive young cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes. But Martha Marcy May Marlene is fuelled more by its ominous sense of dread than conventional dramatic elements. It will require delicate handling on the part of distributors
and a strong promotional effort from its star, Elizabeth Olsen (the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). Olsen plays Martha, renamed Marcy May in the confines of
her new extended family, who live together in a farmhouse in upstate New York. In the early scenes, Durkin and Lipes capture beautifully their quiet, collective environment. But one morn- ing, Martha makes a break for it and disappears into the woods, in a slow outward zoom shot of the forest which evokes the mys- teries of Picnic At Hanging Rock. Martha ends up with her older sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson)
and Lucy’s new husband (Hugh Dancy) in an immense Con- necticut lakeside house — all posh straight lines and spare muted brownish decor — which echoes the home in Michael Haneke’s similarly foreboding Funny Games. The reference takes on further resonance later, as members of Martha’s com- mune (which includes Brady Corbet from the US-set remake of Funny Games) enter the homes of the bourgeoisie. The film skilfully cuts back and forth between Martha’s life in
Connecticut, as she fails miserably to reintegrate into ‘normal’ society, and her time in the commune, which at first appears utopian yet quickly takes on shades of oppression, exploitation and violence. It seems she is trapped in either location. As the commune’s patriarch, played by John Hawkes, even
WorldSoundtrackAcademy
Ghent International Film Festival, Leeuwstraat 40b, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium tel +32(0)9 242 80 60 - fax +32(0)9 221 90 74 -
info@filmfestival.be
more emaciated and feral here than in Winter’s Bone, captures perfectly both charisma and menace. Olsen does a capable job of conveying the character’s mix of confusion, vacuity and post- traumatic stress. But the key relationship between Martha and her older sister comes across as too generic, and growing ten- sions between her and her sister’s husband never go beyond obvious discussions of freeloading and materialism. What stands out is the supremely assured quality of the film-
making, particularly for a first-time director under 30 years of age — from the exquisitely composed frames to the equally bold choices in sound design and music.
n 24 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 12, 2011
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