House of Last Things

I saw "House of Last Things" at the Gerardmer French Film Festival for its last screening. It was a sincere, surreal and quite uncommon experience as if "The Shining" met "Twin Peaks". A deep voyage into the ways how a house (or other locations) can change the psyche of a human being. The cast (the main character really reminds me of Laura Palmer) succeeds in conveying a notion of change and exchange within/between characters little by little as the plot unveils itself through a mirror construction. Open your eyes and ears and let the music of both the director (with his flow of stunning images) and the composers take you through this voyage.

I decided to watch this film, on Netflix, with no prior knowledge about it. That probably about as unbiased as one can get.

Honestly, I do not understand how this film got a 6+ rating. I'm sure there's some kind of plot to this, but I didn't understand the film at all. I watched 40 minutes - didn't understand it, but I decided to give it a chance and finish the last hour, and it still made no sense to me.

Overall, it seems like a haunted house possession sort of thing. The writer/director just doesn't seem to have much grip on telling a good story, and I've seen better films with lower budgets. I'm not sure I want to see any more of this guy's work.

The only points I'll give are for some decent acting and creative imagery. 2/10

HOUSE OF LAST THINGS is one of those rare filmmaking triumphs where the audience is engaged via a near-perfect balance of the real and the fantastic. Director/Screenwriter Michael Bartlett certainly knows his references and his blending of those references with his own unique voice have produced a story rich in nuance and atmosphere, yet still sufficiently supernatural to satisfy audiences who are bent in that direction. Special mention must go to the fine performances of principals Lindsey Haun, Blake Berris, and RJ Mitte, but also to Diane Dalton as well, who wears her all-consuming grief like a layer of ash. Rene Berndt's art design is marvelous, and cinematographer Ken Kelsch's gorgeous photography seethes richness, luster and mystery.

This is a wonderful film.

What makes a good genre film for me is if the director and writer, in this case one and the same, can immerse me believably into a world I haven't walked before, enough in fact for me to turn off my cell phone. This movie is very seductive in that it doesn't play out within the tired cliché of a creepy old house and keeps you guessing throughout, building something like a narrative maze not unlike the famous Kubrick garden maze in The Shining. However, I don't think it's really fair or correct to compare this director with his obvious linage, Hitchcock, Lynch, DePalma, etc. as mentioned by so many other reviewers. This is a director with a mind of his own, quite willing to go his own way inside a genre that has been sabotaged over the years by too many under-schooled directors flooding the screen with blood and gore indiscriminately. This one surprised me. Much better than I expected.

Clearly most of the people who wrote reviews are friends or family of the director. The flowery language alone is an obvious tell. A few people reviewed it very harshly as a response to the over the top praise. I'll do neither.

This movie has several interesting ideas, some lovely visuals, uneven acting, a mildly incoherent plot and low to middling production values. The best shots are in the first 2 minutes and the last several minutes. The use of classical music makes sense for the plot but at times the stature of the music just underscores the generic quality of most of the filming. It doesn't have the lush beauty required to sell this story.

It wants to be the Shining, the Omen, Blue Velvet or Don't Look Now. It's not. At minimum it would need 10 times the budget to look that good. I believe the director could do more if he had more to work with but the reviews comparing the movie to those things as if they are on the same footing are deeply dishonest. It aspires to those heights and can't begin to reach them. That said, for an unknown horror flick it's pretty good. You get the feeling the director could remake it with real money and a tighter script and knock it out of the park.