Furia

I had the chance to watch this movie in the Motelx - Lisbon international horror film Festival with the director's presence.

The movie makes a good job of making the viewer uncomfortable by a situation that can happen to all of us: going on vacation this family lend their house to their sons's babysitter and her husband and on their return they find their home locked with the couple claiming themselves tenants. It is clear the social critic to the state system and their inability to look further at situations in a different perspective. Also and mainly, the director makes some statements in subjects as racism, genre, discrimination and lack of "masculinity".

It is a nice thriller but it seems that it is more focused on social critic than buillding tension as expected. Good actors, nice climax and very poor ending. Nice try, let's wait for the next one.

PS: At the end of the movie, there was this Q&A with the director and he wasn't very clear about some choices and claimed the last scene of the movie as his favourite.

Had a lot going for it and I was all in until a little less than 2/3 in when it changed gears, became increasingly implausible and full of plot holes, and went full-on super-violent gore-horror, which is just boring to me.

Disappointing. As usual, naked women all over the place but the guys keep every stitch on. Sure this wasn't made in Hollywood?

"Get In" has an interesting concept that appealed to me, which is based on a true story about a man dealing with squatters. It's much deeper than that, the movie touches on the concept of John Locke's theory of property, survival of fittest with sex and racial tensions being an underlying element to the entire plot.Other than that, Get in is best viewed going in knowing as little as possible.

The acting is pretty good and there is plenty of gore, at times violent especially in the second half of the film. The climax is very haunting and memorable, adrenaline-fueled ride which I can't imagine horror and thriller fans not enjoying.

The story does seem to overly rely on artsy horror movie tropes than I would have liked, also the set-up is not all that clever or original, in terms of scary, I can't say it was the most system shocking of the mix but it's all done so well that horror movie aficionados won't care. If you dig French Horror, Home invasions, and enjoyed films like Straw Dogs, Funny Games, then this is for you.

I hated this film. It just goes from A to B without any surprise or detour, on a road much better walked by other filmmakers. The film's premise is absurd, gratuitous, the "bad boys" are a travesty, and what the merde was that gross, needless, ridiculous scene in the end? Was that a way of showing us he was tough now? What is this, a porn Leslie Nielsen film? No, this movie doesn't know what is wants and leaves you disappointed, cheated, and swearing you'll never watch a film starring that boring and bored main actor again.

"Furie" a.k.a. "Get In" is a good French meanie of a thriller, part one man's tough inner struggle over life, part house invasion thriller, sprinkled with some social commentary and all clothed up in the elements of an art-house. "Furie" entertains us provokingly, and succeeds at putting the viewer in a prolonged uncomfortable feeling, but also has some problems with pacing, realisticity and morality.

Paul (Adama Niane), a high school history teacher, is happily returning home from the summer vacation with his family, but his life starts getting real complicated when his son's babysitter and her husband, whom Paul lend the house for the duration of the holidays, refuse to leave and claim themselves the official tenants. Paul and his family are forced to live in a trailer park while trying to reclaim the house. Nothing goes as it should, and Paul befriending trailer park's manager Mickey (Paul Hamy) isn't helping either.

"Furie" tells a tough and rough tale - on their mission to regain their home, Paul and his family are constantly being put through many hardships - this is where a lot of social commentary has been put into, themes about simple man's actual importance in society, racism, discrimination, family, and both the lack of masculinity and toxic masculinity. Enough of these situations and the circumstances surrounding them put viewer in an uncomfortable position, making him think about the real life awfulness that can happen, and what does one do then. Director Olivier Abbou, however, seems to be struggling with maintaining a morality and message that's not a little corrupted/conflicted, and more importantly, struggling to build a better part of a thriller solely on social commentary rather than accompanying it with other devices of tension. In the very beginning, "Get In" claims to be based on a true story, and first servings of the story might be, but later on, especially in the third act, the movie appears more and more of an typical (but decent) action/horror thriller. One character had the physical endurance of a T-800, couple too many resurrections there.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the acting performances, I think in this case it was more the actor's work than the writers that made me root (or the opposite) for the characters. Adama Niane made a great protagonist in his continuous struggle to find his true self, Paul Hamy is one nasty villain, and Stephanie Caillard was done a bit of an injustice with a character that should've been more likeable.

Atmospherically and aesthetically, despite being a B movie, "Furie" does a great job, visually it feels downright raw and serious, and often is audiovisually reminiscent of an art-house horror movie, a genre in which France has more than a few good movies. From a technical standpoint, "Furie" is a great indie flick.

"Get In" is a flawed movie, but it's also an interesting movie, overall proving to be visually, atmospherically and morally a somewhat tough experience that, sadly, can also cross the lines with "tiring". I recommend this to all who enjoy French horror movies, house invasion thrillers and grim social commentary. My rating: 6/10.