2009’s “The Uninvited”, directed by the Guard Brothers.
Starring Emily Browning, Ariele Kebbel, David Straitharn,
Elizabeth Banks, Maya Massar, and Kevin McNulty.
What is it about?
Teenager Emily Browning has an ailing mother who one night passes
away. Unable to process the details of the event, she checks into a mental
hospital, until released. She returns to her father (David Straitharn)’s house,
who lives with her sister (Ariele Kebbel), and his controlling girlfriend
(Elizabeth Banks). 2 things are clear: that the sisters don’t like Banks and
her possible ulterior motives, and that Browning may not be processing things
properly- and is in fact hallucinating. Will she be able to cope with her
mental illness while convincing her dad his girlfriend isn’t welcome?
Why is it worth seeing?
Propelled off of the successes of adapting the Japanese
horror film, “Ringu” into “The Ring”, and “The Ring 2”, producers than turned
to South Korea. They discovered the 2003 movie, “A Tale of 2 Sisters”, which served
as inspiration for, “The Uninvited”.
Clearly made and marketed to teen audiences, “Uninvited” tries to do something
resembling “Jacob’s Ladder”- but is closer to Snakes and Ladders. The movie
introduces the Browning teenage protagonist as somebody we want to identify
with, but when the script pulls the rug out from us, it’s unclear if we’re
supposed to care. Worse, did anybody who made this care? Deeply cynical, while
using mental illness as a fashionable plot device, even if the film was made
better you’d have to be a sociopath to appreciate it.
The Guard brothers have some entertaining sequences and make
this teen melodrama more entertaining than it ought to be, but they resemble
the Strause brothers more than the Coen brothers. I just wish there was a moral
to the story of mental illness and suspense other than, “Gotcha!”
No comments:
Post a Comment