Gods Creatures Review: An Overly Restrained Irish Drama
From the chaotic first underwater shot to the sunny and liberating final shot, God's creations are full of carefully composed imagery. There isn't a moment in the film's modest 94-minute runtime where it feels like co-directors Sayla Davis and Anna Rose Holmer aren't in total control of what happens on screen. For God's many serene performances of horror creatures , this sense of directional control only adds to the tension that lurks below the surface of the film's story.
But in the third act of God's Creation , Holmer and Davis's clenched fists become a stranglehold that threatens to drown out all the drama and tension of the story they're trying to tell. The moments that were meant to feel like punches to the stomach or crushing moments of emotional relief are so few that they've been stripped of much of their weight. Ultimately, then, God's Creations becomes an interesting case study in artistic restraint, and more specifically, how an overly calculated style, if poorly executed, can make a film seem so cold.
© Provided by Digital Trends courtesy of A24To its credit, the style of God's Solitary Creatures isn't entirely off the mark. The film's stunning visuals are not only appropriate for the windy, windy Irish town in which it takes place, but also reflect the reserved and reserved way many of its residents choose to live their lives. Among them is Eileen O'Hara (Emily Watson), a respected mother who runs a local fish depot in her town. Between her estranged relationship with her son Brian (Paul Mescal) and constant care from her disabled father Paddy (Lalor Rudy), Eileen is already stressed at the start of God's Creation .
You wouldn't know it at first, because Eileen goes to great lengths to hide her emotional baggage. The weight of Eileen's shock is revealed only in certain moments of quiet contemplation, but these moments become more frequent when Brian de Mescal suddenly returns to his hometown after years abroad. His return sparks Eileen's most self-destructive passion for motherhood, which takes the form of gestures that risk her life to better Brian's.
However, Eileen's love for her son is tested to the limit when Brian is suddenly accused of raping Sarah Murphy (Isling Francius), a young citizen he was dating. When Eileen is called to the local police station in the middle of the night, she is asked to confirm an alibi for Brian, which she knows is false. He too does so without hesitation at first, but soon his decision has consequences not only for himself, but for all the Irish people who call it home.
© Digital Trends Submitted By A24, 2022The impact of Brian's violent behavior against Sarah is gradually revealed in the impatient second half of God's Creation , which follows Eileen as she becomes increasingly unsure that she made the right decision to protect her son. This nagging lingering doubt manifests itself in a series of silent glances that grow with guilt as Eileen moves toward the astonishingly brutal end of God 's Creatures.
Had Eileen been played by someone other than Emily Watson, the film's third act, which rests entirely on her character's shoulders, would likely have fallen apart. Thankfully, Watson remains one of the smartest and most soulful of actresses, and in Creatures of God she beautifully navigates through the conflicting emotions that rage within Eileen for much of the film's second half. In contrast, Mescal (who will appear in another A24 drama, Aftersun ) gives a distorted and slightly annoying performance as Eileen's legitimate son, Brian.
Although she doesn't have much time to explore her character as Watson and Mescal, Aisling Franciosi also gives a dignified and vulnerable performance as Sarah, the woman at the center of God's creation story. Together, Franciosi, Mescal and Watson give God's Serious Creatures a script that doesn't have the restraint to stifle. However, the three representatives fail to fully elevate God's creatures if they are allowed to be more frank or emotionally open.
© Digital Trends Submitted By A24, 2022Behind the camera, Holmer and Davis bring as much sophistication as possible to God's Creatures , delivering deceptively simple and visually rich footage. In one of the film's brightest visual moments, Holmer and Davis position Watson in the middle of their frame, only for Brian de Mescal to walk through the bar door behind him to keep him out of sight. The image is the result of some incredibly timely physical movement, as well as Holmer and Davies' penchant for blocking, which allowed them to put Watson in the same line as Mescal Gate later on.
However, it wasn't Brian's surprise appearance at the bar in Act of God's Creatures I that seemed most emblematic of the film's strengths and weaknesses. Instead, it's thanks to the film's opening moments, where Holmer and Davis transition from several handheld underwater shots to a long, distant shot of the ocean. A man has drowned, but as Holmer and Davies move toward a distant plane of the ocean, their victim's screams are replaced by silence.
These first few minutes perfectly encapsulate the movie itself, which has more than its fair share of cliffhangers and suspense, but often veers into emotional distance that doesn't match its story. Because of this, it's no surprise that God's Creatures made the strange last-minute decision to focus on Eileen, just as her emotional journey was beginning to reach its most thorny and surprising point. Ultimately, this is a film that will always hold off a still sea in the submerged visions of its characters, which is why God's Creatures ultimately doesn't sink as deep as it should.
"God's Creatures" hits theaters and VOD shows on Friday, September 30.
