The bummer season continues with 2013's White Reindeer, a film that is definitely not about reindeer. This one was very well-received by the handful of critics who actually saw it, hence its curiously high rating on the Rotten Tomatoes site, though I really can't see why anyone could love this film. It's not just that it's depressing and dark - it's also just not very good.
This indie is certainly distinctive and interesting, anchored by a compelling performance from Anna Margaret Hollyman as a traumatised woman trying to navigate her way through not just the holiday season but her own grief. Returning home from work one December night, Suzanne finds her fella shot dead, a victim of a burglary gone wrong. Yikes.
Director Zach Clark (Little Sister)'s mumblecore film is less concerned with solving the slaying than it is with Suzanne's downward spiral as she deals with her anguish. Y'know, at Christmas. It's not very jolly with many scenes of our protagonist acting very, very distraught, quite understandably
Following a little detective work and the shocking revelation that her man had been cheating on her, Suzanne tracks down his mistress, an exotic dancer with the improbable moniker of 'Fantasia'. Rather than scratch that bitch's eyes out, the two form an unlikely friendship. Normally straight-laced Suzanne quickly falls into a new, self-destructive existence of drinking, coke-snorting, shop-lifting and swingers parties. None of this is very Christmassy and it's never clear how any of this is helping her deal with her trauma. Crucially, not much of this debauchery is very convincing and it's all too bleak for me.
I really want to like this film but it just feels hollow, with distractingly bland, unrealistic performances and plenty scenes seemingly just put in there for shock value. It's all very meandering and doesn't seem to be making much of a point, other than grief can send people on destructive cycles of bad behaviour and we need to get past that to move on and get back to a happy life. The film seems content to wallow in the messed up stuff more than the redemption, though. It's actually quite weird to feel this bored watching a film with so much sex, drugs and rock n' roll in it. The whole film has a strangely deadening effect that I find completely unmoving.
As we've gone through our own family tragedy this year, I'd wondered if watching something like this might offer some sort of catharsis. It really doesn't. I get it - the whole idea of using the festive season as the backdrop helps to further emphasise this woman's pain - "I just want it to feel like Christmas" she moans, spending thousands on expensive decorations, including the white reindeer of the title. However, blowing a whole load of cash and getting fucked up doesn't heal emotional wounds. Only doing your best to accept the pain and get on with life can do that.
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