Nik McGrath
For #31DaysofHorror I spent the month celebrating #WomeninHorror. Ten films left a lasting impression. In part one of two blogs, the following five films are worthy of adding to your watchlist.
AMER
Still: Cassandra Forêt as Ana in Amer (Cattet and Forzani, 2009)
Amer (Cattet and Forzani, 2009), written and directed by French filmmakers Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, who met in Brussels in 1997, where the married couple still live. They co-direct all of their films. Before making Amer, their first feature, they made five short films between 2001 to 2006. In 2012 they made O is for Orgasm (Cattet and Forzani, 2009), a short in anthology The ABCs of Death. Their next feature was The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (Cattet and Forzani, 2013), followed by Let the Corpses Tan (Cattet and Forzani, 2017).
Creaking floorboards, heavy breathing, water droplets, footsteps... The sounds in Amer (Cattet and Forzani, 2009) set off my ASMR. The images are beautiful, cropped, zoomed in (the camera often focuses on eyes), psychedelic colours, over exposed with too much light, blurred, camera-shake...
A giallo in three acts, Ana is a child in an unhappy home with a grandmother mourning her husband, terrorising her grandchild in a black lace veil and gloves; second act Ana is a teen exploring her sexuality; and third act Ana return’s to her family home in the French Riviera, she is now a woman plagued by a dark shadow.
Shot in 39 days, Cattet and Forzani use visual and audio storytelling, split screens, sound design and skilled editing to create a modern masterpiece on a shoestring budget.
BEDEVIL
Tracey Moffatt AO (b. Brisbane 1960), describes herself as an image-maker rather than a photographer, artist or filmmaker. Moffatt has a degree in visual communications from the Queensland College of Art, where she graduated in 1982. Moffatt has exhibited 100 solo shows in Europe, US and Australia, and represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017 with her solo exhibition “My Horizon”.
Bedevil (Moffatt, 1993) is Moffatt’s first feature film. Moffatt had made shorts and TV movies in the late 80s and early 90s, most notably Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (Moffatt, 1990). One of the most iconic photographic series made before making this film was her 1989 series “Something More”. In her photography, Moffatt builds narrative through a series of images which tell a story, almost like stills from a film never made. “Something More” has visual elements that are precursors to Bedevil.
As a child, Moffatt’s extended Indigenous and Irish Australian family told her ghost stories, which inspired her to write and direct Bedevil (Moffatt, 1993). The film has three ghost stories set in different rural locations with stylised and beautifully lit sets and painted skies. “Mr Chuck'' about a boy who is haunted by an American GI who drowned in a swamp, starring Uncle Jack Charles. “Choo Choo Choo Choo'' stars Moffatt as Ruby, a young woman who lives in outback Queensland, haunted by a ghost train. “Lovin’ the Spin I’m In” features dancing ghosts Minnie and Bebe who haunt a warehouse where their forbidden love met a tragic end.
This film is visually lush, it’s compelling, it’s a unique exploration of ghost stories in an Australian landscape, and it sits beautifully within Moffatt’s body of work.
In The Cut
Still: Mark Ruffalo as Detective Giovanni Malloy and Meg Ryan as Frannie in In the Cut (Campion, 2003)
Jane Campion’s films don’t have a lot of dialogue, they speak to the audience through body language and visceral imagery. Although words are sparse in Campion’s screenplays, every word uttered is meaningful and poetic.
Born in New Zealand in 1954, Campion comes from a family dedicated to the performing arts. Her mother was an actress and writer; and her father a teacher, and theatre and opera director. Her parents founded the New Zealand Players, so Jane grew up in the theatre.
Jane studied Anthropology at the University of Wellington, where she graduated with a BA in 1975. In 1976 she moved to London, enrolling in the Chelsea Art School, spending her free time traveling throughout Europe. She then moved to Australia where she studied painting, graduating from the Sydney College of the Arts in 1981. Dissatisfied with painting, Campion turned to filmmaking. In 1984 she graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. Campion’s unique path to filmmaking gave her the foundations to understand human behaviour and fully develop characters in her films, and to visually express narratives on film as a painter uses brushstrokes.
In less than a decade following graduation from film school, Campion was the second woman ever to be nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards, and won Best Original Screenplay for The Piano (Campion, 1993). Campion was the first and only female filmmaker to receive the Palme d'Or for The Piano.
Romance, forbidden love, desire, passion, tragedy, these are themes throughout much of Campion’s work. In the Cut (Campion, 2003), based on Susanna Moore’s novel (published 1995), was adapted to the screen by Campion and Moore, and directed by Campion; produced by Nicole Kidman and Laurie Parker. Starring Meg Ryan in a beautifully visceral performance as Frannie Avery, Mark Ruffalo as Detective Giovanni Malloy, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Pauline, Frannie’s sister.
Frannie and Pauline share a beautifully loving and affectionate relationship which is tender, and sweet. Frannie seems otherwise disinterested in people, but her close bond with her sister reveals a loving and caring soul. Frannie is an English professor, who notices poetry on the subway and collects words in her little black book from people around her. She meets Detective Malloy who is investigating a particularly brutal serial killer who disarticulates women. A word Frannie notes in her little black book. Frannie’s life becomes entangled, and she doesn’t know who to trust.
M.F.A. / Revenge Artist
Still: Francesca Eastwood as Noelle in M.F.A. / Revenge Artist (Leite, 2017)
Art student Noelle (played by Francesca Eastwood), in her final year, is told by her teacher and classmates that her final art thesis is safe, lacking emotion, immature. Not long after this crushing assessment, one of her classmate’s invites her to a party where she is brutally raped. She confronts the rapist, and while defending herself, he falls to his death. She then discovers that rape culture is being covered up on campus, with no criminal charges pursued, and victims are being treated as liars. Noelle goes through a personal and artistic transformation, seeking revenge for victims of rape, while expressing these feelings of injustice in her art.
M.F.A. / Revenge Artist (Leite, 2017) is a powerful film, directed by Brazilian Natalia Leite, written by Leah McKendrick, who also play’s Noelle’s best friend Skye.
Summer of 84
Still: Davey played by Graham Verchere and friends in Summer of 84 (Whissell, Simard, Whissel 2018)
“Even serial killers live next door to somebody” says Davey, 15 and desperate for something to happen in the Summer of 84 (Whissell, Simard, Whissel 2018). Davey convinces his best friends Eats, Woody and Curtis to help him investigate a serial killer active in their neighbourhood.
I’m partial to a coming-of-age adventure story with 80s vibes, and the kids in this have a really sweet friendship. Co-directors Anouk Whissell, François Simard, and Yoann-Karl Whissell had me emotionally invested in what happens to these boys, which made the suspense electrifying.
Amazing timing that we watched The Babysitter (McG, 2017) starring Judah Lewis recently at a MHFS watch party, then he pops up in this as Eats! Amazing how much he grew up in a year!