Baby Ruby

This film almost slipped underneath my radar. It isn't classified as a horror flick but it really is horror. At least the horror metatag should be added to it. I would avoid the trailer if you can because, umm, the trailer just gives the story away and ruins it like they often do.

What brought me to try it were some of the cast members in it. Most notably is Kit Harington from Game of Thrones fame when he played Jon Snow. I like Jayne Atkinson's style too.

If you haven't seen the trailer which I recommend you don't. The tension in the story crescendo as the online influencer, Jo, spirals down into madness caused by postpartum depression. We see her anxiety about motherhood and the baby. We experience her paranoia and her unbalance mental health. This isn't a jump scare flick, but a slow burn film, just like I want them. Some of the freight scenes I have not seen in other horror films that genuine shook me. Not easy to do since I watch hundreds of horror films. It has a Stephen King vibe to it when the group of mothers in the small town in Upstate New York. This is more geared to the older adult child bearing demographics. I doubt teens and younger adults will find it interesting.

I know this did not get great critic reviews and I imagine the majority of reviewers here will do the same because they all seem to be of one mind anyway...

I figured this would be the usual pseudo-deep indie bore-fest with long scenes of the protagonist staring into space along with carefully sculpted scenes of nature or an urban landscape, but surprisingly this was nothing like that.

There was a plot and a story to follow, with wit and humor in the direction if not so much in the script, and I was never bored for a second. I also appreciated the few fantastical touches as they were necessary for the journey, ours and the protagonist's. And the baby was adorable, so there's that..

Overall, very well done, and well acted.

An eerie film.

This film is thought to watch to say the least. The constant crying of the baby and the horrible hallucinations of the mother are just to eerie and disturbing for my soul. I found the movie difficult to watch and it just made me feel uneasy which is good sometimes but I just felt a bit off after watching it. However the fact that the movie can make you feel so much so is an aspect that's hard to achieve. The film conveys how powerful and capable the human mind is, to such extent that it can eat at itself slowly chipping away at your sanity and control. It also shows how powerful the bond between mother and child truly is. Overall could've been a better.

If you're looking for narrative, cohesion, plot structure, etc. Look elsewhere. Also, if you have had major mental health issues, or breakdowns this is your trigger warning.

The movie reminds me of a long, confusing nightmare. In dreams there are rarely beginnings, middles or ends. This movie explores the mental challenges of having a child. I'm not a parent, but everyone's experience is different and has its own challenges. In this film, the baby crying (it starts quickly in the plot so it's not a spoiler) is, at least to me where the breakdown starts.

Overall it's like watching a nightmare. Part horror, part character study, part surrealist, but overall it doesn't really come together. Some parts are interesting overall it's not a pleasurable film going experience.

If you're about to have a child or thinking of it I would not watch this movie. 5/10.

I thought this sounded like an interesting concept, social media has baby and things go wrong is what I got from the synopsis.

The film kind of went how I expected but lacked or even included too many things for it to be a good film.

It lacked meat on the bones of the overall storytelling from her backstory to her life in general. It included too many different characters and themes without managing to nail any of them.

It has a fairly dark dreary look which can add to the tone of a film and its not something I dislike but its done in a fairly weak manner that it never really hits you with any impact.

When the focus here is on the lead actress you really need a great lead and Noémie Merlant never pulls it off. The melancholic feels are all there but everything else is just placid. The rest of the cast ( including Kit Harrington ) are bit players and often overlooked or put in a corner once their purpose has been served. Many of which serve little purpose that really get to you in an unnerving way as intended.

You could remove a few characters and give others more to do and Im sure the impact would have been greater. I don't know an awful lot about Post Natal Depression so its difficult to comment on the realism in how it was used. Overall though it ended up being a bit disjointed and withering to a pretty anticlimactic ending.

There are flickers of horror and an ever omnipresent haunting flow to the film but little else.

5/10.