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| Kika Magalhaes gives a shattering performance as Francisca in Nicolas Pesce's debut feature The Eyes of My Mother (2016) |
Making a black and white film these days is a very deliberate choice by a contemporary filmmaker. Not only does this visual decision give a film a unique tone, but somewhat tempers its gore factor, denying us the reds, pinks, purples, and browns associated with hard-core guts and gore. Nicolas Pesce's
The Eyes of My Mother certainly has its share of "guts and gore," but reveals those moments in such a delicate and elegiac manner that the horror of the film slowly seeps into you until you are fairly drowning in its dreadful miasma.
The film opens with a trucker stopping on a desolate road at the sight of a woman collapsing into a fetal position far ahead. The framing stays with the truck's cab as the trucker runs to assist her, as if the camera was a strange passenger. Then an overhead aerial shot frames that fall from a different angle as the trucker stops to help the woman and then calls for help. This scene is a flash to the future, as the film's timeline readjusts, and now it introduces us to young Francisca (Olivia Bond) and her Mother (Diana Agostini). In what seems like a rural idyll, her mother tells Francisca the tale of St. Francis, living in the woods, who wakes one day to discover he has stigmata. She drives home the point that "loneliness can do strange things," and indeed that very idea forms the core subtext for the entire film, for without her mother, Francisca would be very lonely. Her father seems entirely absent, and she appears to be home schooled and duly isolated.
Perchance, a visitor breaks into their quiet existence, and Charlie (Will Brill) is a giggling mass of bad intentions. When he forces his way into their house--first to use the phone, and then the bathroom--events deteriorate and Francisca's life is forever transformed. That trauma haunts her from her childhood, to her teen years and beyond. Upon her father's return (from wherever he might work), they bury her mother and lock Charlie (who is still alive) in the barn to live out his days. At one point, she asks him why he murdered her mother, and he enthusiastically explains that "it felt amazing." Those words will come back to haunt him. One of Francisca's skills, taught to her by her mother, is eye and throat surgery, as she soon renders Charlie unable to see or speak. It's a fitting bit of revenge, but becomes a rather cruel form of torturous living when other victims ensue. After Francisca loses her father (although it's not clear exactly when that occurs), she finds other ways to fill the void of loneliness, and eventually forms her own makeshift family by brutal means.
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| Francisca's father "bathing" in The Eyes of My Mother |
While the film gradually clues the viewer in, bit by bit, to Francisca's perverse understanding of both reality and family, the adult Francisca (Kika Magalhaes) creates a compelling sympathy toward her through her soulful performance. Her isolation, and her early brush with violence, profoundly shape her future and her interactions with others. Some plot holes emerge (how exactly did she learn how to drive), but this minimalist psycho horror show leaves just enough unanswered for spectators to fill in the holes with their own imagination. While we are (thankfully) not privy to many violent events (because they happen offscreen), the subtle hits of horror shown contribute beautifully to the film's deeply unsettling nature. One of the film's more fascinating approaches is how it oscillates between an almost claustrophobic intimacy and a very purposeful visual distancing. The film also takes its time--scenes of horror unfold incrementally, sometimes testing our patience as we sit in dread worrying over what will come next. I described the film to a friend as if Antonioni had made a low-budget indie horror film, and I still think the film is the perfect marriage of horror tropes and art cinema mood and style. A stunning piece of work,
The Eyes of My Mother is a triumphant, gorgeous first feature from Nicolas Pesce.
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| A voyeur dominates the film's spatial world in Jacob Nizzola's Agravoy (2015) |
One of the best things about the Fantasia Film Festival is the creative pairings of shorts with features that the Fantasia team masterfully programs. Jacob Nizzola's
Agravoy beautifully complimented the feature's dreadful atmosphere, as we watch a voyeur (Barrington de la Roche--who looks a lot like latter day Iggy Pop) hungrily peek at the mysterious woman (Orion Ben) living across the hall. She invites a handsome guy over (Adam Nash), and things take a pretty violent turn as the voyeur's jealousy bubbles over. Stylishly shot and beautiful oblique, Nizzola's short playfully explores the cinematic possibilities of the peephole while cautioning viewers to not judge people by appearance alone.
