Back in
1999, Eduardo Sanchez (along with co-director Daniel Myrick) terrified
audiences with the worldwide phenomenon “The Blair Witch Project”. At its time of release it was such a unique
film, shot on a shoestring budget and filmed on video, it took on the big guys
and not only won the battle, it totally destroyed its opponent. “The Blair Witch Project” was such a success
that it seemed to indicate that if you had the means at your disposal, anyone
could make a movie. As was soon proven
by the huge glut of inept features made on a dime, that wasn’t necessarily the
case; you also needed a good story and some talent behind the camera too. Since his amazing debut though, Sanchez has
barely been heard from in the horror scene.
It is not that he hasn’t been making movies, it is just that none have
come close to matching the quality of “The Blair Witch Project” (it is tough
starting at the top, just ask Orson Welles).
However, with his latest film “Lovely Molly” Sanchez has finally hit gold
again creating a supernatural (?) film
about mental illness that is as good as his first feature (story-wise, I
mean, there is no way he will ever recapture the financial success of “The
Blair Witch Project”).
“Lovely
Molly” is about a newly married couple, Molly and Tim, who move back into
Molly’s deceased parent’s house, only to have Molly haunted by a trauma from
her past. Throughout the film, it is
obvious that something happened to Molly in this house, but we also learn that
she is a recovering drug addict, no doubt brought on from her initial
trauma. As Molly slowly and continually
withdraws within herself, Tim struggles to understand if his wife is back on
drugs again or if something sinister is happening to her. Even more disturbingly is whether or not she
is a threat to injuring anyone including herself.
Eduardo
Sanchez has created quite an intense experience with “Lovely Molly” which
interestingly has the same opening as his most famous film; his leading lady
talking and crying into a camcorder.
This is where the comparisons with “The Blair Witch Project” end though
because “Lovely Molly” is its own thing, mainly concerned with how much a
trauma can affect a person throughout the entirety of their life. Similar to “The Exorcist”, the success of
this film has to do with the opening scenes we see of Molly and Tim together,
so happy on their wedding day. These
scenes are crucial so we can witness just how far Molly falls. Sanchez creates the film with a sense of
ambiguity where it can be seen in two different lights. The first is that there is a supernatural
presence within the story that causes Molly to do the things that she does, or
the other, that everything that happens plays out in Molly’s damaged and
fractured mind as she relapses on drugs and begins to remember the terrible
things that happened to her when she was younger. Personally I think the film is much stronger
dramatically if it is indeed happening all in Molly’s head, and this is how I
saw it. If the supernatural presence
were to be real, I think it would make the film far cheesier, where as I think
it is actually trying to say something about how damaged a person truly becomes
after they are abused by someone they trust.
The film
belongs to lead actress Gretchen Lodge who plays the difficult role of Molly and
is simply outstanding. She fully commits
to the role both physically and more importantly mentally. It is heartbreaking to watch this girl slowly
deteriorate before our eyes as she heads down the path of self
destruction. You truly believe that
Molly is seeing what she says she is seeing because the terror is all in her
eyes. Lodge is naked at length throughout
the film, not just in the flesh but also emotionally, and she does not flinch
at all. She goes to some very dark
places during this story and presents them to us so honestly and
heartbreakingly. It is seriously one of
the best performances of the year. If
Lodge was unable to make us believe of the reality that what her character was
going through was real to her, than the film would just not work but she excels
here and it is because of her performance that “Lovely Molly” is as successful
as it is.
The
other fine performance that I loved in the film was from Alexandra Holden as
Molly’s older sister Hannah. Holden
plays Hannah as a damaged soul too but one who is coping better with the
past. There is no doubt that she has
gone through some pain in her life as well as there is an evident sadness in
her eyes but you can also sense some guilt too, no doubt due to the fact that
she feels partly responsible to what Molly is going through. The character of Hannah helps in the creation
of the ambiguity of the film because while Molly really believes everything
that is happening to her, you can sense that Hannah has seen this all before
back when Molly was struggling with substance abuse. The only problem with Hannah is that her
character does some really stupid things in the film, not least openly smoking
and offering a joint to a recovering addict.
Sadly,
the performance from Johnny Lewis as Molly’s husband Tim just doesn’t hold any
weight and he is regularly outclassed acting wise by the women he shares the
screen with. This ultimately causes Tim
to be a very forgettable character which is a shame.
For the
majority of “Lovely Molly” it is shot in a normal fashion but sporadically
throughout it, video footage shot by Molly is shown to us. For me this part of “Lovely Molly” just did
not work at all and its excision ultimately would have made for a better film. Within the footage we see Molly basically
stalking another family, a mother and her two kids, from the
neighbourhood. It isn’t until late in
the film that we understand why she is observing them and it does lead to two
very dark moments towards the finale but this subplot ultimately feels
extraneous and does a disservice to the balk of the main plot. It creates a jarring effect as we are
watching this girl descend into madness and then suddenly we are outside with a
camcorder looking at a supposedly happy family.
You lose that intensity which has been building so well and it makes it
very hard for the audience to get back into.
Despite
this flaw (and a few idiotic character moments) I think Eduardo Sanchez has
done a great job at creating an uncomfortable environment. The (non-video) camera work is all handled
very nicely and I was particularly impressed by the soundtrack that keeps
audiences on edge. He doesn’t use loud
noises to accentuate a horror moment in cheap fashion rather he uses strange sounds
to create a tension filled atmosphere. The
use of the folk-song “Lovely Molly”,
which is sung by Molly’s father almost calling out to her, is so damn effective
and creepy at the same time. Also the
sound of horse’s hooves at regular intervals is brilliantly done and is just so
chilling. The film isn’t a gory one,
although there are scenes of gore within it, and it isn’t filled with scenes
designed to give you a quick jolt, however Sanchez has created a film with an
atmosphere of dread that continues to get darker as the film goes on.
While
the film is not perfect, I was still impressed with Eduardo Sanchez’s latest
film “Lovely Molly”. It is well known
that I am a huge fan of films about the fractured mind and Molly’s descent into
madness is an interesting and intense experience. It has a standout lead performance from
Gretchen Lodge that anchors the film within reality while at the same time
Sanchez has created an ambiguity that leaves the door open to suggest that everything
that is happening may in fact be supernatural.
Thankfully Sanchez is smart enough not to over explain things,
particularly with the ending, which ultimately adds to the experience of
“Lovely Molly”.
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