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2011, 10-25; completed 11-06:
This 120-minute R-rated film was written & directed by SEAN DURKIN...
... As the film starts, we see a very agitated young woman named Martha (ELIZABETH “Lizzy” OLSEN) at a pay phone, calling to her older sister Lucy (SARAH PAULSON). She wants to be picked up there-- but is so confused, she’s unsure just WHERE she is...
... In time, we see Lizzy living with Lucy & her well-to-do husband Ted (HUGH DANCY)... But, it’s clear Lizzy isn’t all “THERE”, in that she’s clearly suffering from some emotional “DEMONS”...
... Via a regular series of flashbacks & flash-forwards, we learn bit-by-bit “WHY” Lizzy is so bewildered & distressed:
... Somehow, she’d started living on what appeared to be a “peaceful” FARM area, controlled by a thin bearded man named Patrick (JOHN HAWKES)...
... But, the more we see, the more we realize that he really is “leader” of a group there, which most people would consider to be a “CULT”...
... He uses a smarmy “sweetness” to try to convince Lizzy of what he’s persuaded the other “commune” people there-- that they’re living a sort of “PARADISE”-type life, where everything is ”beautiful” & “perfect”...
... The other men there include Watts (BRADY CORBETT) & Max (CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT), & they in-essence fear John...
... The women there include Sarah (JULIE GARNER), Zoe (LOUISA KRAUSE), & Katie (MARIA DIZZIA), & they treat John like he’s a “GOD” who can do no wrong...
... Does all this remind you of the CHARLES MANSON Family story?... Well, it SHOULD!...
... At one point, John says to Lizzie, “You look like a Marcy Mae!...”
... And, with an associate standing next to him, he tells her that she needs to learn to “TRUST” people more...
... Clearly “coming-on” to Lizzie, he later plays a guitar to help him sing a SONG he wrote “about” her...
... John at one stage takes various people out into the woods, where he urges Lizzie to use a GUN to kill an ANIMAL there...
... She’s uneager, & he says, well, maybe she’d prefer shooting CHRISTOPHER (who stands nearby) instead?!...
... The scene periodically switches back to Lizzie living with Sarah & Hugh...
... Lizzie keeps acting in “INAPPROPRIATE” & sometimes downright “SCREWY” ways, such as suddenly going into a lake NUDE although lots of other people (strangers) ALSO had cabins around them on the lake...
... Altho Lizzie behaves in an “antsy” & “fearful” manner about the world around her that clearly indicates she’s in an “UNHEALTHY” state, Hugh & Sarah keep “putting off” really “DOING” anything about her condition such as by urging Lizzie to get some “HELP” mentally and / or emotionally...
... Suddenly, we see we’re “back” at the FARM with John & his “cult”... He keeps talking “amiably” to Lizzie, clearly having an “AGENDA” in mind...
... It doesn’t take long before we “see” his scheme, when he climbs into BED with her & FORCES her to “accept” him...
... A sign of how he’s “BRAINWASHED” people there is the way, when Lizzie complains to some of the women how “painful” he’d been, they eagerly work to convince her she’s “WRONG”, that what happened to her was “WONDERFUL” & a sign of “great” things to come in the future!...
... The women continue trying to in-effect “convince” her things are fine...
... And John keeps “coming-on” to Lizzie, telling her at one point that “You’re my FAVORITE--!...”
... It’s all an eerie & highly “DISCOMFORTING” situation...
... Back with her sister & Hugh time-wise, we see Sarah urge Lizzie to get dressed-up for a PARTY they want to hold at their fancy house...
... Lizzie reluctantly does that-- but a “DISASTER” soon arises when she sees a bartender serving guests there, & -- thinking he’s a “CULT” member come to “get” her – she strikes out at him & knocks a glass out of his hand (to the embarrassment of Sarah & Hugh)...
... Will the “cult” members start attacking various home-owners, for their various special “purposes”?...
... Will Hugh & Sarah try to get Lizzie to seek some “HELP” that she clearly needs?... Will Lizzie start to ACCEPT that idea?...
... Will some of the Cult members try to “TRACK HER DOWN”, &, if so, what will “HAPPEN” from that scenario?... Will Lizzie get truly “BETTER” emotionally & mentally?...
... In a number of ways, this is a very CLEVERLY-concocted story-- sometimes, almost “TOO” concocted for my tastes...
... Overall, it’s EXCELLENTLY acted, particularly by Lizzie & John, with additional effective work in the ”supporting” roles...
... Normally, I dislike a movie that keeps “FLIPPING” its timelines via flashbacks & flash-forwards... But, this movie exhibits an unusually “SURE” hand in the “smooth” way such things are handled pacing- & direction-wise...
... But, all that being said, I have some “PROBLEMS” with this movie:
... The director, of course, has a right to make a film the way he wants to... And maybe I just don’t especially like superficially “ARTSY” movies...
... But, whatever the situation is, I’m just not “impressed” when the director or others purposely leaves the “ENDING” completely “UP-IN-THE-AIR” like this one does...
... Some might call the multi-level VAGUENESS in the way the finale was handled to be a sign of “GENIUS”-- but I for one am not “BUYING” that:
... Unless it’s caused by something like running out of MONEY, I find the way this film uses a purposely-“DISINTEGRATING” ending as indicating a LAZINESS or a LACK of valid CREATIVITY or an attempted undesirable “MANIPULATION”...
... That may be somewhat “harsh”, but, in any case, the to-me-unacceptable ending came across in such a way as to pull the “rating” down by around 1 whole point, leaving my overall ranking at 7.75 out of 10 stars...
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