The second of Amazon's Blumhouse collaborations I watched was "Nocturne", a debut feature from writer/director Zu Quirke which, not unlike "Black Box" eschews conventional horror, this time for more of a psychological thriller.
Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) lives under the shadow of her twin sister Vivian (Madison Iseman). Though both are talented pianists, Juliet's demeanour means that Vivian is graduating to Julliard but she is not. Moira (Ji Eun Hwang), their current schools most gifted student, takes her own life, which means the final concerts solo is vacant. Vivian seems the natural person to claim it, until Juliet finds Moira's notebook, a cryptic and dark series of notes, markings and illustrations. The book has an effect on Juliet, increasing her confidence, but how far is she willing to go to claim that solo.
As with "Black Box" I feel that there's lots to admire with this film, but little to love. It does feel like a budget version of "Black Swan", with its story of pressure are the higher end of artistic achievement. The performances from the two leads, Iselman and Sweeney, are really good. Art direction and cinematherapy are decent, the effects - such as they are - aren't bad - though it does help that they often aren't looking for realism, rather part of a fantastic dream type sequence. I do feel like I'm prepared to give the film a whole point for the final shot (to say anything more is a bit too spoilery).
But plot wise it's a bit too humdrum and predictable. You'll be well in advance of Juliet in terms of what is happening and you'll probably see the ending coming a mile off. There are a couple of minor twists that the film doesn't do a great job of disguising and it's all just a little too flat, and lacking in originality and invention to recommend it as worthwhile.
Negatives ultimately outweighed the positives for me, but at least there were positives.
