Orphan: In search of the perfect family

What defines an excellent thriller film? They are usually known to be about sudden jerky camera movements, splashing of gory faces on the screen and explosive use of sound effects. Most thriller films seem to follow these patterns and usually fail miserably at evoking any kind of fear or any other emotion out of their audience. But the 2009 film Orphan which was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra is a thriller with a difference.

As a couple grieves the birth of a still born daughter for their third child, they decide to overcome the process of mourning by adopting a girl from an orphanage. The girl, Esther, appears to be an innocent child with a few inexplicable habits but all the while the couple tries to love her as they would their own daughter. Esther gets along perfectly well with the couples’ youngest, a deaf and mute girl who considers Esther her elder sister and follows her around everywhere; on the other hand, the son is reluctant to accept Esther as part of the family. Her unorthodox habits and rejection at home cuts Esther off from most of the family and her classmates. Slowly certain unforeseen circumstances occur with Esther being a prime figure linking up the unfortunate events. By digging up Esther’s past and joining the dots, the mother realises her family is in grave danger which she must rectify.

A dark and mysterious character throughout the film, Esther has qualities that make it overwhelming to figure out her true identity. The portrayal of the character leaves a cunning air of indecision yet confidence about her which sends a shiver down the viewers back. Not always in a good light, she provides the thrill in the film which is built on a wonderful, expressive and well thought out story.

Pain is the most important part of the film. Whether it is in the rejection from a husband, the breaking of an arm of a timid girl or the crushing to death of an innocent bird, the viewer can partake in the pain of what is portrayed on the screen. The feeling of pain also provides the thrill factor in the film which the audience can relate to. The film is made such that anyone can put themselves in the shoes of the character and imagine being in similar circumstances.

The film has a particular dark essence to it which adds to the feeling of horror it maintains. There is a feeling of unrest throughout the film which is maintained because of the gradual character development as the story goes on. The dark tone of the film also coincides with the personality of the protagonist, which is mysterious and unresolved.

From the very first frame itself the film carries a promise of being an exciting, blood pumping and pulse accelerating thriller which is able to captivate its audience to levels that thriller films in the past have failed to achieve.

Chronicle: The human behind the super power

Although many people would love to have superpowers and would dream about it plenty of times, it is very difficult to predict exactly how most of us would behave if our wishes came true and we did attain some superhuman abilities. The answer of whether we would use them for the right reasons and help other people, as is shown with most popular superheroes, or if we would use it for our own selfish gain and eventually end up misusing those powers can only be answered if we are actually placed in such a hypothetical situation. But that seems to be what the 2012 action movie Chronicle has touched upon.

Andrew is a teenager with a creative mind and asocial tendencies. He is terribly introverted as he goes through his high school life with a camera by his side and no friends but his cousin to hang out with occasionally. His cousin Matt tries to convince him to get along with more people by taking him to a party at a barn and introducing him around. Eventually, Andrew, Matt and Matt’s friend Steve wind up in the middle of a field where they discover a hole leading to an underground cave. Andrew reluctantly agrees to follow Matt and Steve into the cave where they discover a glowing stone embedded into the ground. After an unfortunate mishap, the three friends narrowly manage to survive but later discover that they have received telekinetic powers. They agree to keep it a secret and use their powers sparingly but Andrews’s fragile self esteem and longing to make something of himself lead to rifts in their friendship and more problems than they can handle with their powers alone.

The feature film directorial debut of Josh Trank, Chronicle follows the unique style of a handheld camera that is a part of the storyline. By establishing that the protagonist carries around a camera at all times, the film was then told through the eyes of the camera that plays a part in the film. Although utilised previously in a few other films, this style still manages to strike a chord with its audience for being a more creative style of filmmaking.

Although the character of the introverted Andrew is the protagonist in the film, he is in fact an anti-hero. The film follows most of his perspective which makes him the protagonist, however the actions he takes leads to horrible outcomes for everyone around him which throws him into the negative light.

The film does employ a bit of a creative style, but it’s nothing extraordinary that hasn’t been seen before. The film tries to portray the human side of exceptional beings but ends up succumbing to the grotesque use of visual effects and action packed scenes which can be seen in any superhero movie. While certain scenes of the film do have a visual appeal, like when one of the characters splits a spider into pieces by pulling each of its legs apart at the same time or by crushing a car into a ball just by making a fist, it’s disappointing that the potential for a good script would be sacrificed just for a more appealing visual production. Maybe that is what Hollywood has come down to, but it’s quite disappointing.

In the end, it is a cool-looking movie, but that shouldn’t be the only reason to watch a film. It could have been something special but as it is, it is just another Hollywood action flick.

Leave Her to Heaven: A possessive love affair that creates a storm

Everyone wants to feel loved and appreciated at some point or the other in their life. Being loved is one of the needs of being human and in a sense it completes us and becomes our crowning glory. But when that love becomes obsessive and stifles everything we do it becomes a problem. A possessive love can cause suffocation in a relationship and lead to problems such as the ones presented in the 1945 film Leave Her to Heaven which was directed by John Stahl.

Richard Harland is an accomplished novelist taking a train journey to New Mexico for a vacation at a lodge. On the train, he meets a socialite by the name of Ellen Berent who is also to stay at the same lodge along with her mother and sister. The Berent’s used to visit the lodge frequently and have returned to scatter the ashes of their recently deceased patriarch, a job which Ellen takes up as her own because of her extreme attachment to him. Ellen soon realises that Richard has many resemblances of her deceased father and is immediately infatuated with him. Richard and Ellen fall in love gradually and she abruptly calls an end to her engagement with politician Russell Quinton while immediately announcing her engagement to Richard. They are soon married but not to live happily ever after as Ellen’s increasingly possessive love for Richard wrecks their married life and causes problems for them, Richard’s brother Danny, Ellen’s sister Ruth and the couples unborn child.

Leave Her to Heaven tells the story of a woman who is entirely obsessed with her father to the point of his death. After he passes, she imposes the same love on a man who resembles him in image and likeness to the point where she stifles his freedom by trying to keep him all to herself. It is hailed as a classic which is clear from the use of colour in an early period of film, scenic locations which play an important part of the plot and the course of the plot which lead to the gradual unnerving of a particular character which in turn leads to never before seen circumstances. It also creates a clear distinction of class and then breaks it down which it manages by creating a setting of high society families and eventually leads to their destruction down to a common point of criminal law.

The use of colour and long shots of scenic locations lend to the appeal of the film. While it begins seemingly as a romance, it eventually ends up being much more as it drifts into the throngs of drama-slash-thriller and has often been claimed to be film noir. Gene Tierney plays the role of the deranged Ellen Berent quite crisply as she leads the audience into her charms before unleashing a string of horrors upon the characters in the plot.

A rare to see colour classic in film noir, Leave Her to Heaven peaks as its characters fall deeper into their miseries. It has a charm which leads its audience in before gently shocking them, just as Ellen Berent does to her family and friends.

Laura: A murder mystery for the ages

One of the great styles in cinema which is enjoyable and meaningful is the film noir. Even if a person is not a fan of crime, thriller and mystery, it is very easy to appreciate film noir because of its style and execution. A classic in film noir is the 1944 film Laura which was directed by Otto Preminger.

When a young and attractive socialite is found dead, Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson steps up to solve the case. He meets her close friend, Waldo Lydecker, who is a famous writer/ journalist. In interviewing Lydecker he finds out about her on-the-rocks engagement to Shelby Carpenter, a man who she nurtured both professionally and personally. McPherson is also introduced to Ann Treadwell, a friend of Laura who is secretly in love with Carpenter. From the descriptions he receives, McPherson decides that Laura was an attractive and much loved woman. Slowly and steadily, over the weekend that McPherson investigates the murder, he falls in love with Laura and makes it his mission to figure out who the killer is, to the extent that he spends hours in her home where she was killed. Just as McPherson seems to unlock a few clues, an unexpected occurrence causes him to rethink his findings in the case and spins him around on his heels.

Laura is considered a classic of film noir. It employs quite a few elements which are considered to be indispensible to film noir, including a narration by a character, use of thematic background score which helps create a tension in the scene, use of toned lighting and shadows, characters smoking cigarettes and the general theme of being a film about crime; in this particular case, the crime is murder. It manages to create an air of hopelessness and suffocation which seem to be the conditions of the characters in the film, and it manages to superimpose these same emotions on its audience. It maintains its suspense through the plot and the mystery of the killer is only revealed in the finale of the film.

Laura is considered a classic and rightly so. Its relevance in this day and age may leave it at just above average, but it has a class of its own which cannot be ignored and underrated under any circumstances.