Broken Innocence

Chase Dudley continues to show time and time again that he is a force to be reckoned with in the Indie film world and "Broken Innocence" is no exception. Once again Dudley breaks away from being stuck to one genre with a surprisingly deep and emotional script.

From "killer" cinematography by Brandon Benz along with breakout performances from Arianna Harris and. Paul T. Taylor, your eyes will be glued to the screen the entire time. It's no wonder that Broken Innocence has been sweeping film festivals all across the country winning award after award. This is a dark subject matter that Harris handles surprisingly maturely with a presence on screen well above her years. A low-budget drama turned slasher that takes advantage of every penny. I'd highly recommend checking it out! There's a reason Chase has consistent backers when he launches campaigns for his new movies.

Some topics are hard to tastefully tackle, especially in the realm of the "thriller," or, "horror" movie genres. Broken Innocence manages to handle the subject of incest and sexual abuse in a respectful manner by not pushing the envelope in showing the abuse, opting to have the actor's and the dialog they share and the tension built between the members of the family. Broken Innocence, written by Charlie Bradley and directed by Chase Dudley focuses on the abuse of Lily at the hands of her father and the turmoil it causes not only within the family, but within herself.

While the premise is a strong one and for the most part, the film is decent enough, there are a few problems. The dialog feels stilted at points and delivered with varying degrees of quality from the cast. While at times, the film can feel like a first draft of something that could have been a much more fleshed out narrative, there are moments where it really sticks out and leaves a lasting impression.

The first and foremost thing that stands out in the forefront is the fact that the film breaks the trope of the cycle of abuse being passed from the parents to the child in terms of the mother. The film sets up a situation where the mother could continue the abuse by taking advantage of a minor, but decides to not be like her husband and father. This is a great swerve from the traditional crutch of, "I was abused, now I will become an abuser." The second instance comes around the ¾ mark. Lily, having just murdered her mother's psychiatrist, delivers a powerful monologue about why she is who she is and the stifling despair that comes with the territory of being a survivor of abuse.

There is nothing in this film that is going to change the way you view cinema from this point forward, but it does manage to leave you thinking and has scenes that will stick with you for days after.

Broken Innocence is a very solid viewing experience at the end of the day, just something that most viewers may not revisit due to the subject matter. The film has a strong message, even if at times, it struggles to find its voice.

I feel like the writing and the story could have been handled a little better and steered in a more realistic direction, but otherwise, I was surprisingly hooked to the movie! The acting does shine where it shines, and in some places, I feel like it could be better. I really liked the lead actress and how she plays her character!

Like I hinted at, writing and story could have been better. Let me elaborate. I feel like the story and it's dark twisted themes were handled in a fantasy type of sense rather than being grounded in reality, if that makes any sense. Though I do respect and appreciate that the film sets out to explore themes that are rather touchy and disturbing, I do feel like some parts of it can be a little much and do tend to go over the top with it's themes. But I do feel like some parts of it are handled quite well!

As a filmmaker myself, I feel like the film has a clean cinematic look that I can't help but appreciate, This was decently shot!

Overall, definitely not perfect, but not bad! The director and his cast working along side him has a lot of promise, and I can't wait to see what they all make next!

This movie had every right to be successful with it's story. The acting does it's job, there are some scenes of people trying to hard, however it's the technical issues that took me out of the film. Some editing choices were off putting such as an early scene with two girls sitting by a brick wall, it would have been more interesting to stay on them while you have both of their faces in the frame. Another one involves one character tossing another character car keys, you see the toss out of frame and the other character in another shot waiting, the editing would have been a lot better had they cut out just a few frames. Some shots could have been color corrected, certain shots were too bright.

The story is important and unfortunately still relevant.

1. The scene at the very beginning where Lilly is sitting outside the ambulance and the emergency vehicle lights are flashing on her... reminded me of the part in Fatal Attraction where Glenn Close is sitting in the dark and she's clicking the lamp light on and off. Fantastic imagery.

2. The "127 times" part with Lilly on the couch is absolutely heartbreaking. She made me feel it.

3. The end with Lilly & her mother telling her she's gonna do what she's never done before... what a mother is supposed to do for her children. Nail on the head!

This film isn't perfect by any means, but just these three parts made it worth watching, in my opinion.