'Attachment' Review: Creepy Motherinlaw Horror With A Twist
When someone encounters a new romantic interest in a movie who calls their mother "weird," it can only mean one of two things: Either you're in a silly comedy and things are about to get awkward on Meet the Parents . or you're in for an extremely disturbing 90 minutes filled with loud pogroms and imminent death threats.
Gabrielle Per Gislason's terrifying engagement falls into the latter category: ex-actress Maya (Josephine Park) spontaneously heads to London to spend time with her new friend Leia ( Game of Thrones , Myra Reid) after a sweet date in Denmark. Bad news? Leah's mother Chana ( Sophie Grabeel) lives in the basement and is not exactly friendly.
What is commitment ?
Heading to London to stay with Lea, Maya quickly realizes that something strange is going on. Sometimes cold, sometimes actively hostile, Hana hears inexplicable noises in the apartment at night and discovers strange jewelry hidden under the furniture and scrolls hidden in the walls.
But Hannah is also religious and visits the local Mayan community to meet Leah's uncle Lev (David Dzianczek), who introduces her to the world of Jewish mysticism and demons and superstitions that Hannah may or may not be connected to. .
Leo introduces Maya to the world of Jewish mysticism. 1 credit
The film explores Jewish folklore.
"The Hangman" is not the first horror film to focus on Jewish folklore. 2012's The Obsession and 2018's Golem are also based on Jewish mythology. But Gislason's refrigerator is indeed a troubling basis for a subgenre: a book about Vesta of Ahra ("It means the other side," Liu says), which serves as a focal point for apocalyptic events around which all sorts of stories revolve. Maya soon learns about Golems, dybbukahs, and more importantly, witches, and Chan becomes more likely to become involved in the dark arts. The moments when Leo guides Maiya through the dusty pages of Ahra's Tunic offer an interesting insight into folklore not usually explored in the horror genre, and I feel like there could have been more to the film.
Commitment is a story in which things are never what they seem, and in this study of Jewish mysticism, Gislason's text effectively confounds us. It also creates tension in Maya's rambling conversations with Chana or her late-night strolls through her perpetually creaky apartment. The film differs from the usual horror film in that it doesn't have many trigger moments - howlers are rare, meaning the tension has nowhere to go but build.
How far are you willing to go to help someone you love? 1 credit
Affection is a disturbing film about love.
At the heart of the film are the performances of Puck, Reid and Grobel, each good in their own way. Bok is an outsider struggling to fit in with a strange new culture and family; Reid is a seemingly normal girl who is awkwardly rooted to her roots by her controlling mother; Like Hannah, Grabel moves seamlessly between overbearing and vulnerable, passive-aggressive and downright neurotic.
At the heart of these pieces is love and the question of how far you are willing to go to protect someone. Finally, commitment is the answer , but when we get there, all the questions are confused and incoherent.
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