Dark

This film rather took me by surprise. I went into this with no preconceived notions other than it was about the North American blackout of 2003 and had Alexandra Breckenridge (The Walking Dead) in it. This film hit me on a deeper level than expected and stayed with me for quite a few days after seeing it. It's portrayal of a young woman with mental issues, suffering from a very deep depression played to perfection by Whitney Able (Monsters) related to me. Knowing someone personally who dealt with depression, I thought the movie captured that state of mind completely. The subtle depiction of the lead, Kate's, slowly devolving emotional state through to it's brutal ending was uneasy to watch. I can see why some people may find the movie slow but I was gripped throughout because of the lead character. The acting is superb as well as the "jump cut" editing style and the cinematography, naturalistic and beautiful. The sound design, particularly in the second half, was really well done, especially considering most indie films usually fail on sound. It makes NY seem like a very intimidating place, at least in the main character's mind. Even though the film is set in NYC, it feels very much like a European film. Having grown up in the UK and loving a lot of art house films, most European cinema has never been plot-focused. European directors usually focus on the accurate representation of internal states, rather than external drives. This film's goal can be described in the same way and pulls it off quite successfully. It's definitely a movie that will not please everyone. It's not "entertaining" in the traditional movie sense but rather a cathartic, intimate experience for 93 minutes. If you like arty cinema with dark subject matter, you'll absolutely appreciate this indie gem.

Phenomenal performance by Whitney Able and the rest of the cast with great direction by Basile. One of the best arty indies I've seen this year. It's an atmospheric and intense emotional ride through the very disturbed brain of the main protagonist. I wish there were more movies made like this. It's also a terrifying and unsettling depiction of New York City during the blackout. I've read some comments where people complain about the film being too slow or too ambiguous. For me the gradual build and deliberate pacing is what set this film apart and allowed for me to really care about the main character. The finale of the film wouldn't have worked nearly as well if the buildup was rushed. I also really liked some of the ambiguous elements in the film. Today it seems like audiences want everything spelled out. The filmmakers here instead allow the audience to fill in some of the blanks which I find refreshing. Admittedly, this may not be everyone's cup of tea but I found it to be surprisingly well done. A very underrated thriller which I highly recommend.

A young bisexual former-model-turned-yoga-instructor (Whitney Able) is in a deteriorating relationship with her girlfriend (Alexandra Breckenridge). When her girlfriend leaves town in the midst of an unresolved argument, she is left alone in their run-down NYC loft just as the famous blackout of 2003 occurs. She has encounters with a couple of potentially sinister men--a weird, overly friendly neighbor (Brendan Sexton III) and a guy she unsuccessfully tries to pick up at the bar. She may be being stalked and externally threatened in real-life, but judging from some quick-cut flashbacks and scars on her wrists, the worst danger may really be in her own mind. . .

I suspect when this movie is more widely released, it may have some trouble finding an audience because it looks enough like a horror movie to chase away a lot of the art crowd, but a lot of horror fans may not appreciate its artier trappings and its slow, subtle and largely psychological approach to horror. This movie falls in the school of horror typified by films like "Repulsion", "The Tenant", "Let's Scare Jessica to Death", and "Session 9". These kind of films are rarely made, especially these days. The last two I remember both came from south of the US border--"Magic, Magic", which I thought was unfairly panned, and "La Casa Muda", which was successful enough to inspire an American remake, but was then overshadowed by the failure of said remake. Personally though, I LOVE this brand of arty, slow-simmering horror. I wish they made more of them, but they are both hard to pull off and a hard-sell once produced.

The two actresses here are real revelations, especially Whitney Able. They are both known as typical "hot" actresses who take their clothes off a lot (actually they do that here too in an opening sex scene), but they have both gone through some physical changes for this movie and look quite convincing as a NY lesbian couple. Breckenridge's acting is spot-on in her few early scenes, and after she goes, Able has to really carry this movie herself, perhaps even more than Catherine Deneuve does in "Repulsion", where SHE could fall back on the talents of great director Roman Polanski. I don't mean to oversell either the movie or the performance, but it really works, and it really works because of her. It's also good to see the once-busy East Coast indie actor Brendan Sexton III, who was in "Welcome to the Dollhouse", "Boys Don't Cry", and "Session 9", but largely disappeared after that. This movie was also actually filmed in New York City, and like a lot of genuine NYC-filmed movies, the city itself is an important character.

This movie is not an easy sell to anybody, but people that really like "Repulsion"-type movies will definitely appreciate this.

Salutations. This title is marketed as Drama,Horror,Thriller. It's not horrific, or thrilling, so I suppose that leaves drama. It's a strange, cut and shopped together piece that takes the viewer through one night inside the head of a very disturbed young woman. She has no idea what's going on, and confesses the same; unfortunately, neither does the viewer.

The film gets stranger and more deliberately confusing as it goes on. I suspect this is in the name of art, but some shots are painfully long and uncomfortably self-indulgent.

I forced myself to watch it all, but frankly, I wouldn't recommend it. From the teaser 'lesbian sex scene' at the film's opening, through the distasteful running undercurrent of 'rape', to the final slide show of tenuously connected frames, it's not good cinema.

*** for actually getting me to watch it through.

Twenty-somethings Kate and Leah are in a rocky relationship when Leah plans on heading out of town. Kate lives in the heart of NYC, pretending to like it just to make her relationship survive. Once a blackout occurs, Kate starts to have an internal struggle on what to do without Leah and coping on her own. I would have rather had Leah stay during the blackout and Kate go out of town, but the actress that played Kate (Whitney Able) did a superb job at bringing out all of Kate's character flaws. Leah didn't show any character flaws while she was onscreen. There are some editing flaws - as in the sound doesn't match up correctly with the characters' lips on screen. This happens about five times in the movie. Check out this movie if you like psycho-dramas. I watched this on Netflix.