Babycall

This is the tag-line of much awaited new film from Pål Sletaune (behind the great films "Naboer", "Amatørene" and "Budbringeren") is starring Noomi Rapace and Kristoffer Joner. Seven years since "naboer" or in English "next door", we get a film with similar ideas - a look into disturbed or distorted minds.

Single mother Anna moves with her 8 year old son to a big flat with secret address outside Oslo to get away from her violent husband. Anna is scared stiff that they will be found, and is under heavy watch by a couple of child care workers. She get's the idea of buying a baby call so that her son doesn't have to sleep in her bed, only to find that the baby call picks up another troubled child somewhere in the flat. Anna is really on the edge, and maybe her imagination is playing her as well!?

This psychological thriller goes under your skin in the sympathy for Anna and the other troubled minds in this film. You want her to relax, but still understand how difficult it is when you trust no one.

Really great play by Rapace. She gets under your skin. The film is slow paced in a couple of periods, only to speed up at times, just as real life would be in such a situation. The film is not like you think it will be, so this is not your standard thriller. I still think I'd like another ending to this, though maybe not happy...

Well Sletaune can put another great film under his belt. Always worthwhile and interesting to get sucked into his stories. Well done!

With the huge success of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and later on Prometheus, Noomi Rapace has become a well established actress, and if you are interested in seeing her in something closer to her home you can check out this movie. Directed by Pål Sletaune (Next Door, You Really Got Me) it has that strange and almost surreal atmosphere (almost surreal, more like super surreal), so besides the Norwegian vibe you have the surreal one too. Two phenomenal leads, Noomi Rapace and Kristoffer Joner create a perfect setting for Babycall. While Kristoffer didn't have much transitions to go to, Noomi here had the opportunity to take us on a journey to a mind of a single mother and she did it perfectly. We can understand different states of her mind, without any words spoken and follow her mental state as the story develops.

Anna and her son Anders have just moved into a new apartment after her husband tried to kill Anders. They now live in hiding and await the final court decision about the custody of Anders. Anna, afraid for her sons wellbeing is overprotective and is practically glued to Anders. This will be a problem when it's time for him to go back to school, and she nervously accepts this only after being chased away from school grounds. Still in fear that her husband will find them she goes to a store and buys a baby monitor. There she will meet Helge, a shy salesman troubled by his mothers illness and two of them will become friends. Trouble starts when Anna starts hearing something that sounds like an abuse and brutal beating over the baby monitor. After consulting with Helge she discovers that this is an interference from another baby monitor only 50 meters away. This is the same time when mind will start playing tricks on her, making it extremely difficult for her to get to the bottom of this...

Babycall is a strange movie, and while some might find it a bit slow, it is quite rewarding if you watch it 'till the end. It is a different take on the same thriller/horror subject so popular in Hollywood, but it definitely has its flaws. One of the main ones is the sudden turn in mood towards the end of the movie, and relatively confusing story with the heavy lifting left to the viewer.

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I saw this film as part of the Imagine film festival (SF/fantasy/horror) Amsterdam 2012. The festival website labeled it as "horror", but I rather concur with the mixed "horror/thriller" label we see on IMDb. We cannot help feeling sympathy with the mother (Anna) and her son (Anders), just having moved to a hiding place where her husband resp. his father cannot find them. We are told this is because of prior domestic violence towards the son. It is the main reason for buying and installing a baby monitor in the son's bedroom. Since he is 11, he would not need such supervision in normal circumstances.

Apart from that, we see what initially looks like a sub-plot, in the form of a flirtation with the salesman (Helge) in the home electronics shop where the baby monitor is bought. The relationship strengthens later on when Anna hears alarming sounds out of the newly installed device, and seeks his advice as it is not coming from Anders' room. Helge explains that the signal can be picked up from a similar device in the neighborhood. Given that Helge is the only one taking her story seriously, and Anna feels all alone with her situation, it can be no surprise that she asks for his help. And Helge, also feeling alone, is very eager to offer some assistance.

Anna stumbles on a nearby lake, where she observes disturbing things happening on the opposite side. What she sees, obviously reminds her of her own reasons to run away from her husband. After rushing through the woods to find the place where it happened, there are no visible traces of something out of the ordinary. On later occasions Anna completely fails to find the lake again, as if it never existed in the first place. We are as confused as Anna is, since several landmarks we saw before along the path to the lake, are still on their original spot and look undisturbed.

All in all, though a few scenes could be improved by shortening some parts, I saw an entertaining mix of what was real and what only existed in Anna's mind. After a while we think we are sure what's real and what's not, given what is presented to us by the scenario writers. Acting is very good, so we are easily convinced by what we see.

However, one of the final scenes shows aforementioned lake again, after we saw with our own eyes that Anna could not find it anymore. It unexpectedly confronts us with a completely different view on the matter (no details, to prevent spoilers). In hindsight, I could remember no pointers that we may have been misled by what we had seen on screen. In other words, this was really a surprise for me, but of course, I may have missed some clues. Yet I think this should not happen in a "thriller" type of film. Some cleverly planted clues with hints that there might be more to it than what we saw, certainly would have improved our viewer experience.

Babycall is a sparse psychological mystery / thriller by writer / director Pal Sletaune, centred on a convincing and naturalistic performance by Noomi Rapace, with excellent support from Kristopher Joner as her character's awkward admirer and Vetle Qvenild Werring as her son Anders. As a claustrophobic mood piece, it is effective, and Rapace gives an accomplished performance, as should be expected by those who know her work. Events are bleak and the central character is troubled, and it is not a comfortable watch, but ultimately likely to be somewhat satisfying for fans of the genre, if perhaps only for the central performances, since horror is not a word that sits well in its description.

I came to Babycall really not knowing anything much at all about the film. Half way through I was just about ready to give up on it. As an ex-teacher I'm really not that much into films about over-possessive, paranoid, helicopter parents doting over their frequently brattish offspring. I've been there, done that, enough times to last way more than this lifetime. And that's what Babycall seemed to be about. Noomi Rapace playing (against her famed Lisbeth Solander persona) this demented, self-possessed single mother of an 8 year-old boy, attempting to escape the legal clutches of an unseen, supposedly violent father, with the very much qualified assistance of a couple of children's services officers.

Let's be clear here too, that Rapace is very convincing in the role which has her onscreen, a great deal of the first half of this Norwegian film, which is probably better summed up by its US title "The Monitor". Ever so gradually some unexpected supernatural elements are added to this dysfunctional family drama to change the substance and core elements of the film completely. Crucial to this slow-burning metamorphosis is the role of Kristoffer Joner who plays an electrical appliances retail salesperson, who appears somewhat oddly sympathetic to the mother's continual quandaries.

I don't wish to spoil much more of the narrative, except to say that's it's pretty clear that even a number of reviewers on these pages haven't fully understood Helge's (Joner) role, or abilities, in what plays out. If they had they wouldn't be rabbiting on about plot holes that don't exist. Suffice to say the third act of Babycall contains a couple of doozy little twists that I certainly (thankfully) never saw coming and which completely change the complexion of earlier parts of the film and the way we may have initially viewed them.

Director Pål Sletaune deserves plaudits for the way he has constructed Babycall. It's a creepily intriguing movie, but one that eschews the cinematic traditions of nocturnal, dimly-lit scenes and haunting soundtracks. Much of the action takes place during the day in rather brightly lit buildings and rooms. He seems to have gone out of his way to turn on its head, the way one might go about filming a supernatural/horror tale and he does so, very successfully.

I'm only mildly surprised that Hollywood hasn't come calling seeking the rights to the inevitable remake. This is a very fine movie, but one that I think has just too much subtlety and nuance for North American audiences ( the IMDB rating of 5.7 is indicative of what I'm saying) seeking an adrenaline burst of quick thrills, dominating sound and explosive action set pieces. Make sure you watch till the end.