M. Night Shyamalan obliquely enters the “found footage” competition with THE VISIT, a modern day “Hansel and Gretel” tale.
short blooper reel and a selec- tion of trailers. The plot synop- sis on Wild Eye Releasing’s DVD case reveals the identities of the killers and spoils all of the plot’s mysteries in two sentences. The 1.78:1 presentation is generally fine.
THE VISIT 2015, Universal,
93m 55s, $14.96 DVD-1, $19.99 BD-A + DVD-1 By Michael Barrett
This is writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s entry in the “diegetic camera” movies, those whose story incorporates their own filming. The industry often uses the phrase “found footage” even when, as in this case, that doesn’t describe it properly. The film’s filmmaker is Becca (Olivia DeJonge), a smart, film-obsessed, bossily ethical 15-year-old assisted by her younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), who has three
quirks: he’s germ-phobic and an annoying rapper, and he freezes when in danger. Their father has left the family for another woman, an event psychologi- cally tied with their mother (Kathryn Hahn) having left her parents on the family farm and never spoken to them again. Hoping to rebuild bridges, the kids stay for a week with Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop- Pop (Peter McRobbie), who have reached out to them over mom’s reservations. This is the subject of Becca’s documentary. At a leisurely yet increasingly uncomfortable 90 minutes, Becca and Tyler note all kinds of strange behavior, especially after the sun goes down. The oldsters, who seem cast as a wink at Grant Wood’s “Ameri- can Gothic,” fluctuate from nor- mal to poignant to deadpan comically wacko and back, transitions mostly pulled off by the excellent actors. When the last act delivers the promised
pandemonium, potential over- statement and the clumsiness of carrying the cameras is com- pensated by those camera’s roles as tools of liberation and engagement instead of dis- tance. As in classic fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, the children will have to defend themselves.
Shyamalan is interested in recuperative family dynamics and therapies of anger and for- giveness and, to his credit, spends as much or more time allowing this to drive the char- acters and plot rather than the mechanics of the freak-out. This emphasis offers convincingly felt moments, while sources of wit include Becca’s editing choices and her self-consciously “ironic” music (Les Baxter with theremin, Mary Schneider), not to mention the grandparents’ taste for Caruso.
The result is a modest (and financially successful) movie about mid-American family crisis
15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
