Hutchinson skrifar:
Throughout The Damned, writer-director Thordur Palsson’s formidable feature debut, the phrase that kept echoing through my head was the chilling proclamation that the “world is dark and full of terrors.” Yes, this is a quote from Game of Thrones, whose Rory McCann is part of the cast here. However, he is not what kept bringing it to mind. No, it was the terror in the eyes of those like Odessa Young and Joe Cole where this was most felt. In the isolated Icelandic fishing village their characters inhabit in the 19th century, this desolate darkness is where death awaits. Not only is this where you can freeze to death, but it’s where the forces beyond our understanding may also lurk. Whether they’re there or not, which is something that’s best left to discover in the film for yourself, they certainly feel petrifyingly real. Even as the story can be occasionally more standard stuff, the execution of how it is all brought together is frequently stunning work, making for a film you won’t be so easily able to shake.
This is especially felt in the hands of cinematographer Eli Arenson, who previously did good work on the much less successful horror film The Watchers, as he captures the beauty of this world just as he does the looming brutality. You gasp in awe at the vast landscapes, which are as magnificent to see as they are terrifying, just as your throat freezes up over the fear that there may be no getting free once it has you in its icy grasp. It is an experience where the darkness of the mind can swallow you just as completely as that of the world around you. When you least expect it, everything and anything you know can be ripped away from you. Whether it is because you are driven to madness or because there is really a menacing force waiting to strike, the devastation that it wreaks remains the same no matter how you look at it.
‘The Damned’ Is a Damn Good Psychological Horror Movie
Palsson never lays this on thick, even as you can cut the atmosphere with a knife. What makes The Damned so effective is how grounded it all is in the characters and their perception of the world. As Eva begins to form a connection with Daniel (Joe Cole), it seems like there could be some warmth and kindness in this cold world. This only makes the dashing of the fragile moments of tranquility the two share all the more painful. Cole gets some moments towards the end when his character is in a bad way that are brutal to watch yet still oddly mesmerizing. You can see the man Daniel once was in his eyes, but there is a distance too that is disconcerting. As the charm he once had fades, all that is left is a cold that cuts to the very bone more completely than even the most frigid of snowstorms. The one who carries all this on her shoulders is then Young who gives one of her best performances to date. Where she was given a rather thankless part in the recent Manodrome, Eva is a character of layers that we get to see her perfectly capture in agonizing detail as they all unravel before us. With every nightmarish vision we are immersed in, we feel via Young’s performance how complete despair and the madness that follows are always waiting in the wings to drag you away.
This includes the fitting finale which, while not the most surprising closer in the world, still burns bright. The manner in which this consumes Eva is a testament to the power of Young’s performance. It is in how she subtly captures the way her character begins to lose her grasp on reality that makes the moment where the floor drops out all the more brutal. It echoes something closer to Saint Maud and the way all of us are capable of falling prey to the depths of our minds. Whether Eva and her companions are truly as damned as the title would suggest is the fundamental question to which there is no easy answer. There is a literal one in terms of what happened, but the question of the soul is another entirely. What is clear is that, as we get one final look at the terror creeping into Young’s unblinking eyes, we see how it is the most damning truths that can utterly destroy us faster than even the coldest of nights.
Dóma nokkurra annarra miðla má lesa með því að smella á hlekkina:
Loud and Clear: The Damned Film Review: Guilt Leads To Madness
Next Best Picture: “THE DAMNED”
Í þessari frétt Deadline kemur fram að Vertical muni dreifa myndinni í N- Ameríku.
Lesa má alla umsögnina með því að smella á heimildarhlekkinn hér fyrir neðan.
