Split

Guess who’s back! After what could only be described as the week from a nightmare and a brief soiree in Bankstown Hospital I am back on my feet and ready to review the shit out of this movie. Come at me Shyamalan.

Split follows the stor(ies) of Kevin, a man who has spent his life living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, with 23 different personalities inside his head. His dominant identity, ‘Barry’, has been treated for many years by his therapist, Dr Fletcher, who has a fondness for people who suffer with DID and believe they possess abilities that other humans could never achieve. However, things start to go sour when three of Barry’s ‘banned’ identities, nicknamed ‘The Horde’, start to take control. ‘Dennis’, an obsessive compulsive with a desire to watch girls dance, ‘Patricia’, a mother hen and religious enforcer, and ‘Hedwig’, a nine year old boy with a penchant for Kanye West, all begin to hatch a plot to bring about a possible 24^th identity, known only as ‘The Beast’. This plot involves kidnapping three young teenage girls and holding them prisoner until ‘the Beast’ arrives, as well as silencing Kevin’s other identities so they cannot find help. Can the girls gain an identity’s trust long enough for them to escape?

The positives: This movie is genuinely a really interesting and engaging film that really explores its subject matter in the sense that they don’t try to rush anything. The moments of suspense really keep you on edge and you become invested in these characters. James McAvoy does a great job convincing us that he is multiple people and this film is a testament to his acting ability. The 3 girls Claire (Haley Lu Richardson), Marcia (Jessica Sula) and Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) are also great at showing what typical people would do when faced with this situation, with a shoutout to Anja who’s role as Casey is both haunting and intriguing (and definitely one of the best characters in the film). As well as this, Dr Fletcher (Betty Buckley) is also a surprisingly interesting character, as a person who does not try to ‘fix’ Kevin but rather tries to understand him. Thinking back, I’m not sure there was bad acting from anyone, so props to the casting director.

The negatives: They really push the idea of ’23 personalities’ but only about 8 are fully explored: I don’t quite understand what the drive behind the number 23 is (aside from that shitty Jim Carrey horror movie, sorry Jim). They really shove it on the movie posters and in the trailers but it never really impacts the film: there are about 4 personalities that ‘take the light’ and another 4 that are discussed/viewed briefly, but why the need for another 15? There were also a few issues with the plot here and there: things that you only notice afterwards when you’re finally able to process the film as a whole. As well as this, although I doubt most people will feel this way but it bears mentioning: this movie is in no way a reflection of people who actually live with DID. Seriously, this films portrayal of the actual disorder is very much a Hollywood-ified version, and I know it sounds stupid to bring it up, but considering that a talking orange is currently running the US forgive me if my faith in humanity is a little lax.

In the end, the movie is an entertaining thriller that Shyamalan fans or thriller movie fans are going to enjoy. Although its not his best work, its certainly a step in the right direction for him. He seems to be getting his groove back and that’s good news for the film industry, I look forward to seeing what he brings to the table next.

The Witch

The horror genre is one that rarely captures real slices of life. Yes, they can be based on true stories, such as The Conjuring, but those films only relate to specific incidents. What if you could make a horror movie that represented an actual fear and paranoia that people had for hundreds of years? That would be pretty scary. It's also been achieved by first time director Robert Eggers with The Witch.

After being banished from a New England plantation, William (Ralph Ineson) and his family set out to find land on which they can live. They find a nice plot on the edge of a dark forest, because that's not at all foreboding and terrifying for your young children. Whilst playing with her baby brother, Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) manages to lose him, despite the fact that he was right in front of her. Soon other strange goings-on result in her mother Katherine (Kate Dickie) accusing Thomasin of being a witch.

I think we have come to expect horror movies to follow a certain pattern, so when they deviate from that we are surprised by our uncertainty and makes the movie that much more scary. Such is the case with The Witch. It's definitely unlike any horror movie you've seen, mainly because it's not that scary. It is however incredibly unsettling and taps into a primal level of paranoia that exists in everyone. Well, that is the case up until the last scene of the movie. See, what happens throughout is that you start to get an unnerving feeling that Thomasin might indeed be the witch because she is the only one present when any of the witchy things happen and it even gets to the point where she doubts that she herself may actually be a witch and she just doesn't know it. It also doesn't help that the religious fervour stirred up by the family adds to her doubt. But it's super disappointing when you're going to throw away all that tension and paranoia that you've spent a whole movie building up away to say, "Hey guess what? There was actually a coven of witches hanging out in the woods the whole time." This is an M. Night Shymalan level twist that this movie really really didn't need. A cut before this and only then I would have been satisfied.

Ralph Ineson probably gives the most dedicated performance in this whole cast. His devotion to speaking old English is incredible and I could absolutely see him existing in a vacuum where he is actually from the 17th century. This use of language only makes his character's religious devotion more believable. Anya Taylor-Joy did an okay job at playing Thomasin, but I did feel like her character was slightly lacking and there was definitely more to be explored between her and her brother Caleb, played by Harvey Scrimshaw. Kate Dickie was amazing as the personification of hysteria. We only briefly see the human incarnation of Black Philip, but I found Wahab Chaudhry's performance was incredibly unsettling, but then again the goat who played him for the majority made some very interesting choices.

For me, The Witch was heading to be a solid 4 star film. It gave me the right amount of chills that told me I was in for a nightmare filled sleep. However, the film went on for two seconds too long and I lost all interest in what I had just spent the previous hour and a half watching.