March 2020 Review: The Best Movies I Saw Last Month
Originally published April 2, 2020
I feel really bad for not updating this blog at all last month. My hope is with this additional time staying home that I will be able to write more articles and create a backlog, so I always have content to post. I also am in the process of tweaking and creating new systems to make managing my viewing and writing schedules easier. The goal is to make more interesting and creative content in the future! It’s shocking what weeks of self-isolation and social distancing will do!
Anyway, enough about how I plan to keep this blog interesting and fun. I have so much to say about March! This month I watched 34 movies, the most in a very long time. While the quality dipped slightly from February, I am very happy with the movies I chose to watch. I hope you enjoy!
BEST #3) Bedevilled (2010); Director Cheol-soo Jang; South Korea
Abused by her husband, underappreciated by her community, and neglected by Hae-won, the only person she would call friend, Kim Bok-nam, played by Yeong-hie Seo, finally decides to seek her revenge on her tormenters. She does this after a failed attempt of running away from the miserable life she has in the secluded island community. Hae-won, played by Seong-won Ji, is quite possibly one of the least likable yet intriguing protagonists I have seen in a horror movie in recent memory. Normally this protagonist would be a turnoff for me, but there was something compelling about the dynamic between the two main woman characters. After refusing to testify against a man who murdered a woman in front of her, Hae-won spirals out of control at work, eventually attacking a colleague and being sent on mandatory vacation. This leads to her trekking to her family’s island home, the same community her childhood friend Bok-nam still lives. What transpires is nothing short of a gut-punch of emotionally charged horror, as Bok-nam snaps from the pressure of the daily humiliation and back-breaking manual labor subjected upon her. Both Bok-nam and Hae-won receive fully fleshed out character arcs that drive the narrative of the film to its tense conclusion. Every character decision feels meticulously planned and executed to realize not only these two complex female characters but the communities that shape them. Beautifully filmed and featuring incredibly moving and real performances, Bedevilled examines poverty, womanhood, and colorism in a violently artful and breath-catching horror spectacle.
Overall Score? 8/10
BEST #2) Daniel Isn’t Real (2019); Director: Adam Egypt Mortimer; United States
Growing up Luke had an imaginary friend named Daniel. That changed after an accident, which almost claims his mother’s life, was blamed on Daniel’s influence on Luke. Luke’s mother asked him to lock Daniel away in a dollhouse in their home. Years later, Luke is a college freshman in therapy when his counselor suggests he open up and let Daniel back into his life. Luke follows his advice and reunites with his childhood best friend, not realizing the consequences of his actions. Daniel Isn’t Real is an incredibly fresh film. Gorgeous imagery and interesting visual effects abound in both the real world and imaginary realm Luke creates. It is a genuine pleasure to watch both Miles Robbins and Patrick Schwarzenegger, who play Luke and Daniel respectively, spar throughout the film both literally and figuratively. They play off each other’s energy well and their presence is the bedrock of the film. This rings even more true when the unnerving body horror portions of the film surface and allow for Robbins to really flex his acting chops. I am rarely shocked by movies, but Daniel Isn’t Real caught me off guard several times and even left my jaw dropping at several of the sucker punch scenes it threw in its dense 100-minute runtime. I must add as a quick disclaimer that horror as a genre does a pretty poor job of handling the issue of mental illness, but Daniel Isn’t Real goes the extra mile to not demonize mental health issues. Daniel Isn’t Real is a dark and imaginative thrill ride that’s absolutely worth taking.
Overall Score? 9/10
BEST #1) The Invisible Man (2020); Director Leigh Whannell; United States/Australia
Elisabeth Moss leads The Invisible Man in a standout performance as Cecilia, a woman who leaves her abusive husband in the middle of the night days before he kills himself. Or is that what he wants you to believe? Cecilia is convinced that her husband, Adrian, has found a way to fake his own death and torment her for leaving him, prolonging the abuse she fought so hard to escape.
Another entry in the subgenre of psychological horror movies that see women gaslit, deemed irrational, and shrugged off for bringing attention to the distressing horror they are experiencing, The Invisible Man is an incredibly tense exercise in amazing special effects, engaging set pieces, and creative directorial choices. While the physicality of any horror film can be frightening enough, the true terror of The Invisible Man is watching Cecilia’s support group winnow down as Adrian works to destroy her sanity and credibility by inciting a psychological war on her life. Starting fires, editing emails, and attacking friends is only the beginning of his sinister attack on Cecilia. It’s even more disturbing and disheartening to think about the millions of cases of domestic abuse in society. How many Cecilias are out there, dealing with similar circumstances with no end in sight? How many Ceclias do we know enduring this horror and are afraid of the repercussions of leaving? Furthermore, how many Adrians have tricked us into thinking they are upstanding citizens yet are the horror in their homes? How many Adrians have been outed but suffered no consequences and continue their terror at home, all the while we make excuses or conjure up the perception of their character rather than the reality? I hope The Invisible Man can be both cathartic and empowering for those suffering similar tribulations. In the end, we have a duty to support survivors. As pulse-pounding as it is intelligent, The Invisible Man thrives in unrelenting psychological tension and terror.
Overall Score? 9/10
