Spanish director Alejandro
Amenabar finally returns to his genre roots with his latest film, the
thriller "Regression". His previous entries in the
horror/thriller genre, "Thesis", "Open Your Eyes"
and "The Others", had all been fantastic and as much as I
enjoyed the dramas he made after these films, I really wanted
Amenabar to go back and make another thriller. When I heard that his
latest film was going to be just that, I was very excited, and it
immediately become one of my six most anticipated films of 2015. As
luck would have it though, the film was dumped from its original
August release date, and as of yet still does not have a release date
for both the US and Australian territories. Thank god for the UK
though, as they have just released the film on blu-ray, finally
giving me the chance to catch up with it. So did it meet my lofty
expectations or did Alejandro Amenabar deliver his first dud?
"Regression" begins
with a father being accused of an inexcusable crime against his
daughter, with the man confessing to the crime even though he has no
knowledge of committing the said crime. The police enlist the help
of a psychologist who believes performing a technique called
regression therapy on the man would be beneficial. By plumbing
through the man's repressed memories, the truth could be revealed.
However once the therapy begins, it becomes clear that there is a lot
more to the whole story, including the cover-up of a group of alleged
Satanists with a large number of the town's residents being members
of it. Soon, our lead detective on the case, is fighting for his
life against a secret group who will do anything to keep their secret
quiet.
I think it would be remiss of
me to not mention that reviews from the festival screenings were not
kind to "Regression" and I assume that these are the main
reason the film was bumped from its original release date. The film
was accused of being boring, with a premise that felt very tired,
and that coming from a director the caliber of Amenabar, it could
only be thought of as a disappointment. So whilst this was a highly
anticipated film for me, I went into it with tapered expectations.
After viewing it now, I think "Regression" has been
unfairly maligned. As you would expect from a film made by this
director, "Regression" has been expertly made. It has been
very well shot and edited, and Carol Spier's production design
creates a lived in world full of little details that never draw
attention to themselves but help contribute to the dark atmosphere of
the film. However in saying all that, "Regression" is an
ugly film to look at, which is due to the colour palette used. The
world created is a very hazy dreary world, full of dark blues, greys
and browns. Bright colours are never used and as such the whole look
of the film is never pleasant to the eye. I suppose Amenabar chose
to use these colours to represent the increasing tension and darkness
associated with the town, but I personally found it a bit of an eye
sore.
The main problem with the
film, at least for me, is the actual premise of the story which is
about the "satanic panic" that apparently was quite
widespread in the U.S during the 80's (so the opening scroll of the
film tells us). This film is set in 1990, at the tail end of the
panic, and although it has been documented to be a real fear back
then, it is something I find very silly and am unable to take too
seriously. In this regard, "Regression" already is at a
disadvantage in that as well as telling its story, it also has to
convince me that such a panic exists. Unfortunately, I still
couldn't buy into this idea, and as such my enjoyment of the film was
tainted right from the beginning. I will say that I appreciated the
fact that Alejandro Amenabar attacks the panic with the utmost
seriousness and never makes fun of it. In fact whilst watching it,
it hit me that his approach was similar to William Friedkin's with
"The Exorcist", in that he gives a potentially silly
subject all of his respect. However, I still could not buy into it,
but this is my baggage I bring into the film and is no fault of the
director at all. I will say that Amenabar does a great job of
increasing the tension and suspense of the film as it continues
along, but sadly the images of the satanic cult performing their
rituals came across as far too unbelievable in my mind; again, that's
my baggage.
What is great about the film
is the lead performance from Ethan Hawke, who I really think is an
underrated actor these days. He plays the head detective
investigating the case and he does a great job of portraying a man
whose paranoia is increasing as he gets more involved in the case.
You can feel him slowly losing touch with reality the deeper he gets.
This is a man whose dedication to his job cost him his family, and
you can see how he lives and breathes through the cases he is
involved with. He never shuts down, he is constantly on in regards
to the case which makes him a good detective, but not necessarily a
good person in that he finds it hard to relate to other people.
Ethan Hawke portrays this man with quite an intensity and a hardness
that his co-workers on the force bristle against. The big shock of
the film is just how little Emma Watson is actually in the film for,
considering she is all over the marketing of "Regression".
I doubt she would be in the film for any longer than fifteen minutes
in total. She plays Angela, the daughter who accuses her father, and
it pains me to say that she is not very good in the role at all. She
just never comes across as believable for one second, and does not
give her role the necessary gravitas needed to make it work. The
things she accuses her father of are of a very serious nature, but
the way Watson portrays her character you never feel the girls pain.
In fact,, I believe Watson has been totally miscast here. I've
actually liked her in other roles before but she just seems off here.
David Thewlis is fine as the psychologist, but no standout.
I think the reason why
"Regression" has so many negative reviews all has to do
with the ending of the film. Whilst I will refrain from going into
detail about the ending, I will say that the film ends on a whimper
rather than a bang and as such Amenabar leaves the audience with a
feeling of indifference towards the film. You have to give Amenabar
credit for having the balls to end the film on the note he does,
because it is not going to please the majority of the audience
watching the film who will most likely want a sense of closure to the
story, but I guess this is where he sees the story ending in regards
to the themes of the film that he is exploring. Personally I found
it ended "Regression" on a very flat note, and as such I
felt a lot of frustration towards the time I had spent watching the
film which could be perceived to be wasted.
Overall, "Regression"
is something of a disappointment, especially coming from someone as
great as Alejandro Amenabar but it is nowhere near as bad as early
reviews suggested. It is a film that never soars, and whilst I
appreciate the seriousness Amenabar takes towards the satanic panic,
I still couldn't buy into it. Technically though, the film is very
well made, and from that point I respected the film but in the end,
"Regression" became a kind of nothing film for me. By the
time the finale comes around, it felt pointless and I was left
feeling frustrated by the whole thing, despite a strong leading
performance from Ethan Hawke.
3 Stars.
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