We will all die
The film opens with a scene in which Rose (Sosie Bacon) receives a patient named Carl (Jack Sochet) repeating like a mantra: “I will die, you will die, she will die, we will all die. I will die, you will die, she will die, we will all die. ” Despite attempts, the diagnosis turns out to be ineffective. Post-traumatic stress, paranoid schizophrenia, personality disorders, or maybe an ominous prophecy that harbors a terrifying horror? This is just a prelude to what is about to happen in the life of a woman devoted to her work in the near future. One day, a teenage Laura (Caitlin Stasey) comes to her office. A hysterical girl tells Rose about her experiences. A few days earlier, she had witnessed her lecturer starting to smile and then killing himself with a hammer. The patient claims that since then, invisible, an evil force haunts her and wants her dead. After a short conversation, Laura starts smiling, then reaches for a piece of glass, then slits her throat in front of the woman. This experience forever changes the life of the main character, who over time begins to experience the presence of a malevolent force in her life.
Trauma study
A smile, often densely appearing on the faces of psychopaths in films, is an indispensable attribute of horror movies. The figure of Jack Torrance from The Shining in the iconic scene comes to mind here, in which he smashes the bathroom door with an ax, while humming a poem about a wolf and three pigs and uttering the famous sentence in a spasmodic smile: “Here’s Johnny” (by the way, it is an original invention playing the role of Jack Nicholson) or the eccentric Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård, from the adaptation of the novel ToStephen King. Sometimes a smile is a manifestation of the heroes’ insanity, and other times it is a gesture of the triumph of evil over good. It is also often the result of despair due to the experienced traumas and a manifestation of mental downfall. However, you never really know what is really behind it. It is Parker Finn’s smile that is threatening. The plot itself is basically based on a simple but effectively scary construct. Ultimately, however, the director does not want to scare viewers with jumpscares that are predictable to the limits or ghosts jumping out of the closet. He is also not interested in explanations – these are left to the viewer in the form of understatements for his own analysis, and the very motive of the investigation in the film comes down to just browsing the files of several cases involving suicides and meeting the only person, which broke the deadly spiral. What Finn is most interested in is the trauma caused by the loss and how it works. The director does not try to be clichéd and does not put all the cards on the table at once. Through the narrative, he gradually guides us through the successive stages of the story, first passing the nose and then using a metaphorical pickaxe, he turns reality around, showing it from a completely different perspective. And so, through flashbacks, we learn about Rose’s traumatic childhood experiences, which left a huge mark on her adult life. To free herself from the demons of the past, the main character has to face them face to face. Through the narrative, he gradually guides us through the successive stages of the story, first passing the nose and then using a metaphorical pickaxe, he turns reality around, showing it from a completely different perspective. And so, through flashbacks, we learn about Rose’s traumatic childhood experiences, which left a huge mark on her adult life. To free herself from the demons of the past, the main character has to face them face to face. Through the narrative, he gradually guides us through the successive stages of the story, first passing the nose and then using a metaphorical pickaxe, he turns reality around, showing it from a completely different perspective. And so, through flashbacks, we learn about Rose’s traumatic childhood experiences, which left a huge mark on her adult life. To free herself from the demons of the past, the main character has to face them face to face.
A debut with a bang
Smile is basically a horror moviecomplete. There is no shortage of fictional mini-twists, a psychological game with the viewer, as well as what is most important in horror cinema – fear that affects the imagination and subconsciousness. It is a disturbing, sometimes even gloomy, picture of reality shown through the eyes of the protagonist struggling with the unworked trauma and returning to it with double force as a result of current events. Although there are many more questions than answers, the viewer does not feel unsatisfied after leaving the cinema. A neat, smooth narration allows you to follow the course of events with attention, and it is complemented by the great work of the camera operator, capturing the dense, ominous atmosphere of the entire story. Parker Finn has created a picture that is visually pampered. The director’s full-length horror film, which is also his debut on the international stage, can definitely be described as a psychological horror. In terms of convention and plot, it is reminiscent ofI am following David Robert Mitchell, very warmly received by critics. The common elements of both productions are clearly visible, including the motif of a curse transferred from person to person, which cannot be broken, but unlike its vis-à-vis Smile, it is a horror film with a much deeper message, which makes the title itself seem to be a good face for a very bad game.
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