There is an old trick, which is what the movies say, where someone goes through torture. They don’t just hurt them; they show exactly what they’re going to do first. That’s when the audience gets an idea of the fear that is going to happen. Instantly there is a slash and you wait for that part when you finally get hurt, possibly, really bad.
Mike Flanagan understands this story like the back of his hand. The beginning of “Gerald’s Game,” based on a Stephen King novel, tells everything of the film’s trappings with stylish malice. Suitcases are packed, with one having a nightgown and the other with handcuffs. There is a very long drive to a desolate cabin that has a dirty, starving dog walking around. The door is left open and a little bottle of a man’s medicine to help him get started for an exciting night.
This scary setup of bad timing and unfortunate events ends with Jessie (Carla Gugino) handcuffed to a bed by her husband, Gerald (Bruce Greenwood). Things were going nicely, and then things went worse with Gerald having a heart attack and dying, with Jessie still handcuffed to the bed alone and not having a lot of movement. No one is around, including the neighbors, phone or water. All we see is Jessie, Gerald’s corpse, and (gasp) the starving dog.
William Bibbiani said in his review, “What an exquisitely Hitchcockian nightmare scenario we have in Gerald’s Game. But of course, these kind of gimmicks have been disappointing before. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in showmanship and forget that however weird the situation is, a movie is still a story, and the story needs to be told, not just shown off. Too many filmmakers yell “Look, ma! Watch me dive!” and then bellyflop it.”
Bibbiani continued, “Fortunately, Mike Flanagan is evolving into an incredibly classy filmmaker. Gerald’s Game is a malignant escape room movie, a sort of LucasArts point-and-click scenario where every tool at Jessie’s disposal must to be used to ensure her survival, and not necessarily for the purpose they were originally intended.” How she figures everything out is smart, regardless if you’re able to think of them before she does.
Bibbiani said, “But those are just nuts and bolts. What they build is a dramatic scenario in which Jessie, going very quickly out of her mind, must rummage through her whole life and summon not just the will to live, but the right way to do so.” With the help of Gerald’s ghost, who won’t stop talking to her, and a open-minded version of herself, Jessie watches how she become who she is, accepting everything that she has gone through, how she ended up the way she is, and what she needs to evolve into at the moment, before the worse happens.
“Gerald’s Game” knows when to have the audience stuck on the bed with Jessie, and when to flashback all over her traumatizing past. Bibbiani credited, “The film glides from chilling to cheeky almost effortlessly, earning its dramatic revelations. Even when Gerald’s Game seems to go off the rails for a few scenes, right towards the end, we discover that this was all part of a greater design.” Without these parts, without the dialogue, without the reveal, as surprising as it looks, the movie would not have as big of an impact.
Bibbiani ended his review by saying, “Gerald’s Game is a set of tightly wound gears that cranks out dread. Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood are as superb as they have ever been, relishing in the opportunity to ask and answer all the big and little questions about Jessie, within the confines of an exquisite, simple, torturously suspenseful thriller.”
In all honesty everyone, this is a very scary film. If you have liked any other Stephen King adaptations, then you should see this one, because it fits for Halloween. You will really get scared with everything that happens in the film and you will be rooting for Jessie to get out of the handcuffs. I’m not going to say how it happens, but you will feel every impact this film throws at you. See it on NetFlix and get a good scare.
Thank you for joining in on tonight’s review. Look out this Friday for the conclusion of “Pirates of the Caribbean Month.”
No comments:
Post a Comment