Jason KingDVD Review: The Broken (7/10)
September 13th 2010 07:49
:
Hitchcock would be proud...
Category: No Category
The Broken (7/10)
I am a very visual person, you may notice all my posts have lots of pictures in them and I take a lot of time selecting which picture will be used as the display picture for each post. Most of the books I pick from a bookstore, if I have no idea what I specifically want, will be originally selected by the cover art and whether it appeals to me. Same goes with movie posters - if they put out a crap poster for a film I am already slightly disappointed in the film for failing to engage me on the poster.
So it was when I saw the DVD cover of this film, it instantly became a must see for me, because the care and design and thought that went into the cover, and I assume movie poster if it got a release, is just phenomenal. It is striking and inspires intrigue into what must go on in the film. And I was not disappointed. It is an extremely stylish visual film that is subtly engaging and intelligent.
In London, the radiologist Gina McVey organizes a surprise birthday party for her father John McVey with her boyfriend Stefan Chambers, her brother Daniel McVey and his girlfriend Kate Coleman. Towards the end of the meal a mirror falls without cause from the wall and smashes on the floor. On the next day, she sees herself driving a car on the street and she follows the woman to her apartment, where she finds a picture of her father and her. While driving back, she has a car crash and loses parts of her memory; further, she believes Stefan is another man. Gina decides to investigate what is happening and unravels a dark and haunting reality.
Another thing that attracted me to this film was Laura Heady, she was the Spartan wife in 300 and for me she had balls as big as the Spartans and I instantly fell in love with her onscreen presence. Although I am not a fan of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, in which she plays the lead, as I felt it turned the epic story into a soap opera. Heady is the lead in this, playing Gina McVey and does so with a bewildered strength. She doesn't know what is going on and has to work really hard to figure out what is happening. I do not think a lot of people will like this film. It is VERY slow moving, with limited score, shot mostly using slow panning frames but for me it was a Gattaca styled horror film that Hitchcock and that annoying man M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of. It uses tension in the Hitchcock sense to build your fear but has the weirdness of a Shyamalan film, more so like The Village or Signs - not his other shit films (excluding The 6th Sense) . The film is actually a remake of a 1960 Twilight Zone episode called Mirror Image and one reviewer has panned it as dragging it out so long and not explaining anything, where as in the shorter Twilight Zone version you do not have to explain it as it is a short. I disagree, I love that there is limited closure - it adds to the horror.
The film is also similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers or a film centred on a doppelganger. The acting is very subtle but brilliant. Heady has a great onscreen presence and comes across as very refined and upper-class. It was also very weird for me - I watched this after watching the film Step Brothers for the first time and Richard Jenkins plays the father in both films. In Step Brothers he is an insane father with the mouth of a trucker and in this film he is a depressed man coming to the end of his career who lives a nice life but without any joy besides the periods with his children, although every scene in this film is toned quite bleak and shows a time without much fun or joy.
The film has a few jump moments but implies more than it shows. Of the few scenes where you do see the violence they are well delivered and scarier than a teen slasher film. The film opens with a quote from Poe and follows his sense of the macabre and I really enjoy not having anything explained. It shows a scarier story where "they are out there" as an undertone and while this will piss a lot of people off I also think some people may find it more enjoyable. Draw your own conclusions people, just like you wipe your own butt, some things you can take care of on your own.
The film is directed by Sean Ellis who received much critical acclaim for his short film Cashback - see below for the trailer. I really like his artfulness in the direction, it is more poetic. I had a slight issue that the film follows Heady too much and ignores most of the other characters, they are more in it to support her story, but they were all present for the event that the film is based on. I really liked Asier Newman as Daniel McVey and would have liked to have seen his and the rest of the family's stories unfold. I would have preferred this as an ensemble film with all the characters having an explanation with perhaps two of them left at the end to battle for survival.
It should also be noted that the film is based lightly on a mental condition created by a brain lesion which causes the seldom Capgras Syndrome. This syndrome consists of believing that close persons have been replaced by impostors. The most famous example for this disease was the German psychiatrist and writer Dr. Oskar Panizza who wrote his last work "Imperjalja" under the full influence of the idea that the German emperor, Wilhelm II, Bismark and most of the rulers of Germany at the end of the 19th century had been replaced by Doppelgangers.
However, The Broken goes one important step further: Usually, people who are suffering from Capgras Syndrome exclude themselves from the possibility to be impostors themselves. This question does not even occur, in the opposite, such people are convinced that it is their duty given to them to prevent humankind from bad things happening through the impostors. This extraordinary status naturally imposes them a very special status in society which often serves as a covering for the obvious loss of personality caused by the disease.
The film has very mixed reviews with people either loving it or hating it. I fit into the lover's category. The film was originally released in 2008 but is out now on DVD. I recommend a viewing but if your horror is best served like a Saw film then you may fall asleep as you need to use your brain a bit in this one. Worth 7 out of 10. And a PS: Bryn also reviewed it on Horrorphile - suss out his review HERE.
I am a very visual person, you may notice all my posts have lots of pictures in them and I take a lot of time selecting which picture will be used as the display picture for each post. Most of the books I pick from a bookstore, if I have no idea what I specifically want, will be originally selected by the cover art and whether it appeals to me. Same goes with movie posters - if they put out a crap poster for a film I am already slightly disappointed in the film for failing to engage me on the poster.
So it was when I saw the DVD cover of this film, it instantly became a must see for me, because the care and design and thought that went into the cover, and I assume movie poster if it got a release, is just phenomenal. It is striking and inspires intrigue into what must go on in the film. And I was not disappointed. It is an extremely stylish visual film that is subtly engaging and intelligent.
In London, the radiologist Gina McVey organizes a surprise birthday party for her father John McVey with her boyfriend Stefan Chambers, her brother Daniel McVey and his girlfriend Kate Coleman. Towards the end of the meal a mirror falls without cause from the wall and smashes on the floor. On the next day, she sees herself driving a car on the street and she follows the woman to her apartment, where she finds a picture of her father and her. While driving back, she has a car crash and loses parts of her memory; further, she believes Stefan is another man. Gina decides to investigate what is happening and unravels a dark and haunting reality.
Another thing that attracted me to this film was Laura Heady, she was the Spartan wife in 300 and for me she had balls as big as the Spartans and I instantly fell in love with her onscreen presence. Although I am not a fan of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, in which she plays the lead, as I felt it turned the epic story into a soap opera. Heady is the lead in this, playing Gina McVey and does so with a bewildered strength. She doesn't know what is going on and has to work really hard to figure out what is happening. I do not think a lot of people will like this film. It is VERY slow moving, with limited score, shot mostly using slow panning frames but for me it was a Gattaca styled horror film that Hitchcock and that annoying man M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of. It uses tension in the Hitchcock sense to build your fear but has the weirdness of a Shyamalan film, more so like The Village or Signs - not his other shit films (excluding The 6th Sense) . The film is actually a remake of a 1960 Twilight Zone episode called Mirror Image and one reviewer has panned it as dragging it out so long and not explaining anything, where as in the shorter Twilight Zone version you do not have to explain it as it is a short. I disagree, I love that there is limited closure - it adds to the horror.
The film is also similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers or a film centred on a doppelganger. The acting is very subtle but brilliant. Heady has a great onscreen presence and comes across as very refined and upper-class. It was also very weird for me - I watched this after watching the film Step Brothers for the first time and Richard Jenkins plays the father in both films. In Step Brothers he is an insane father with the mouth of a trucker and in this film he is a depressed man coming to the end of his career who lives a nice life but without any joy besides the periods with his children, although every scene in this film is toned quite bleak and shows a time without much fun or joy.
The film has a few jump moments but implies more than it shows. Of the few scenes where you do see the violence they are well delivered and scarier than a teen slasher film. The film opens with a quote from Poe and follows his sense of the macabre and I really enjoy not having anything explained. It shows a scarier story where "they are out there" as an undertone and while this will piss a lot of people off I also think some people may find it more enjoyable. Draw your own conclusions people, just like you wipe your own butt, some things you can take care of on your own.
The film is directed by Sean Ellis who received much critical acclaim for his short film Cashback - see below for the trailer. I really like his artfulness in the direction, it is more poetic. I had a slight issue that the film follows Heady too much and ignores most of the other characters, they are more in it to support her story, but they were all present for the event that the film is based on. I really liked Asier Newman as Daniel McVey and would have liked to have seen his and the rest of the family's stories unfold. I would have preferred this as an ensemble film with all the characters having an explanation with perhaps two of them left at the end to battle for survival.
It should also be noted that the film is based lightly on a mental condition created by a brain lesion which causes the seldom Capgras Syndrome. This syndrome consists of believing that close persons have been replaced by impostors. The most famous example for this disease was the German psychiatrist and writer Dr. Oskar Panizza who wrote his last work "Imperjalja" under the full influence of the idea that the German emperor, Wilhelm II, Bismark and most of the rulers of Germany at the end of the 19th century had been replaced by Doppelgangers.
However, The Broken goes one important step further: Usually, people who are suffering from Capgras Syndrome exclude themselves from the possibility to be impostors themselves. This question does not even occur, in the opposite, such people are convinced that it is their duty given to them to prevent humankind from bad things happening through the impostors. This extraordinary status naturally imposes them a very special status in society which often serves as a covering for the obvious loss of personality caused by the disease.
The film has very mixed reviews with people either loving it or hating it. I fit into the lover's category. The film was originally released in 2008 but is out now on DVD. I recommend a viewing but if your horror is best served like a Saw film then you may fall asleep as you need to use your brain a bit in this one. Worth 7 out of 10. And a PS: Bryn also reviewed it on Horrorphile - suss out his review HERE.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Cheers for the link Jason, I wasn't expecting that.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
It's good to see u really passionate and excited about a film. There is so much crap out there that most of us get down on it but then you sound as excited as me after a Leo film
You should buy the dvd - it's been out for a little while. It's a shame it didn't get a theatrical release here, that I was aware of anyways.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by K @ the Lair
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Dig me some Lena, yep even as Sarah Connor.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness