Weekly Review -- Seeing the light

The Babadook (2014) -- Cinematic stories dealing with the relationship between mother and child are occasionally positive and often polarizing. The relationship itself is a complicated one, defined by the strongest bond in nature. Filmmaker Jennifer Kent's feature debut is a commentary on womanhood and motherhood, as well as a poignant look at a woman's unbreakable connection with the creation that she had brought forth into the world.

**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS HUGE SPOILERS**

Amelia (Essie Davis) is spinning. Six years ago, her husband died in a car crash while driving Amelia to the hospital, where she gave birth to their son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). She has never managed to get over his death, does not let Samuel celebrate his birthday on the date and is barely able to cope with his behavioral problems. Hypersensitive and easily frightened, Samuel is obsessed with the idea of monsters and ways of fighting them. When he discovers a bizarre children's book about a bogeyman-type creature called The Babadook, Amelia's life and emotions start unraveling...

Marketed as a horror film, The Babadook is as far from that genre as it can get. At the same time, its dread is more chilling than any monster under the bed. Sure, there is a nightmarish entity infiltrating Amelia and Samuel's vacuum, but its aesthetic and superficial meaning is the beginning and end of horror conventions in the piece. From the first scene, there are strong hints of maternal horror and director Kent deftly builds up suspense, surprising the audience with every sequence. Kent steers the story from Samuel's role in Amelia's life and her sometimes antagonistic feelings toward her own son to the creature rearing its ugly head and, finally, to its metaphorical significance and insidious agenda. On that note, the film is courageous in its depictions of children. Apart from We Need to Talk About Kevin, recent cinematic works that portray children as less than precious are few and far between. Amelia is frazzled and edgy, going from her son's problems to her own issues daily and then, to top it all off, on to that truly miserable birthday party. Having a child is not a Hallmark commercial. It is a most vivid reality, one that overwhelms and brings pleasure and fear and worry, sometimes all at once. No wonder Amelia is so harried. One could argue that she would snap even if her husband were alive. It is less his death that she is grieving than being alone with a tiny being that desperately wants and needs her experience and energy, parts of her that she is not always able to give. 

Enter the horror of The Babadook. Its main power lies in the principal question that its appearance poses -- who is the real villain here? Is it Samuel, with his outbursts and fixation on violence, behavior that might well lead to criminal acts when he is older? Is it Amelia, who does not socialize, who burdens her son with their past by erasing his own birthday and who lives with him in the creakiest and creepiest house this side of the Bates Motel? Is it the very idea of a child, a tiny person straddling the line between the foreign and the familiar, one whose existence can paradoxically provoke unending happiness and unending depression? The answer may surprise you. What is more frightening than the idea of The Babadook stalking this family is what the monster represents. A manifestation of Amelia's psyche, the creature is a superb symbol of conflicting feelings that motherhood may elicit, further compounded by Amelia's soul-shattering melancholy. Amelia goes over the edge and all out, almost killing her child, with not even her maternal instinct preventing her. It is Samuel that sees that his mother has turned into a stranger and it is Samuel, carrying his heavy load, that recognizes that his mother needs urgent help. Ultimately, it is Amelia's son's love that brings her out of her deep hole, reciprocating the love that her Babadook has managed to bury.

Not too many films involving parent characters are capable of thematically separating them from the children or the concept of offspring, and those that do are usually hailed as revolutionary. Roman Polanski's 1968 masterpiece Rosemary's Baby explored women's reproductive rights through the hostility of the ever-present patriarchal gaze. In the year marked by Roe v. Wade, William Friedkin's horror drama The Exorcist dealt with a career woman's subconscious maternal guilt through her young daughter's possession. David Lynch's 1977 shocker Eraserhead explored the confusion and fear of parenthood through a macabre, steel-colored, oppressive nightmare. The Babadook dares to assert and acknowledge that motherhood is not only about joy. It is often a not-so-noble struggle, a push and pull of sorts that can leave both sides exhausted.

The cast is perfect, for lack of a better word. Davis is a hurricane of emotions, going from a stressed out parent to full-fledged demon. Her Amelia will surely go down in horror history as one of the most expressive, agonizing and complex portrayals ever. Noah Wiseman is incredible as Samuel, a boy that sees that something is extremely wrong with his only parent and one that goes beyond his capabilities to save her. Alex Holmes's sparse and gloomy production design is integral to the storyline, reminding me of Sinead O'Connor's music video for "Fire on Babylon", incidentally a song that deals with child abuse.

Every one of us has a little Babadook crawling on the inside, waiting for the right moment to come out and wreak havoc on our lives. It is a monster of our own making, hiding in plain sight and impersonating the supernatural, yet ominously aware of its true connotation. It can take everything that we have not to let it out and allow it to drown us in its darkness but, once we have control, we know that no one can take that strength away from us.

10/10

Trailerblazing -- Point Break (2015)

Point Break -- December 25, 2015 -- directed by Ericson Core -- starring Luke Bracey, Édgar Ramírez, Teresa Palmer, Ray Winstone, Delroy Lindo

I am against sacrilege remakes of sacred films from my childhood. I do not want a new Ghostbusters, I do not want Dirty Dancing or Romancing the Stone touched with a ten foot pole and no, I do not intend on seeing the new Footloose. Similarly, I was not enthusiastic about the Point Break remake, since I felt that the uniquely commercial feel of the 1991 cult classic might not translate well to 2015. However, the trailer is hella impressive. Kurt Wimmer's (Equilibrium, Law Abiding Citizen, Salt) screenplay expands the action, leaving surfing as the main attraction and bringing other extreme sports into the mix, as well as turning the robbers into a bunch of modern Robin Hoods. The cinematography is somber, giving the film a darker feel and making it rough around the edges -- not a bad decision, considering that the story seems to reflect the world that we live in. The casting choices are intriguing. Bracey was the only good thing in the otherwise dull The November Man and Ramírez has leading man charisma that should have been more utilized after his turn in Domino. It also needs to be said that having James Le Gros in the film is a nice homage to the original. From the looks of it, this Christmas is going to be action-packed.