Absentia (2011)
Starring: Katie Parker, Courtney Bell, Dave Levine
Written and Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Story:
Recovering addict Callie (Katie Parker)
moves in with her pregnant sister Tricia (Courtney Bell) to help out
and ease some pains. Tricia's husband went missing 7 years ago, and
she's never really gotten over it. Matter of fact, she still walks
around the city replacing old 'missing' fliers with new ones. Also,
for several months she's been riding Ryan Mallory's (Dave Levine)
flagpole, and holy hell, I'll be damned if he ain't the detective on
her husband's case. That explains the whole “she's preggers”
thing. Anyhow, Tricia finally decides to start L-I-V-I-N again; she
declares her husband dead in absentia, and that's when the fit hits
the shan. Everywhere she looks, Tricia sees her missing husband in a
severely fucked looking state. To say his face shows disapproval is a
vast understatement. Meanwhile- while out jogging, sister Callie
develops some type of supernatural connection to a tunnel close to
their house. Da fuck!? Yep.
Review:
I wanted to like this movie. I tried so
hard. Every time Absentia seems promising, something extremely
fucking corny happens. I'm not talking 'good' corny- I'm talking
'nasty corns in your shit' corny. I will give it credit for creeping
me out a few times and containing a fairly neat twist. Unfortunately,
the drama in between is crazy underwhelming.
The movie is shot a bit too
bright for my taste, too. I hate that. Bad lighting creates awful or NO
atmosphere. Many times with this flick, I felt like I was watching a
Lifetime movie or a soap opera. There is some cool 3rd
person jogging sequences that makes you feel like you're jogging
behind a hottie. Additionally, I was impressed with a few neat rack
focusing shots (front to back), or maybe it was just one. Truthfully,
the bad lighting I mentioned was a pretty big distraction and it kept
me from appreciating a whole lot, in terms of this film's visual
style.
Acting isn't good or bad, it just IS.
Katie Parker and Courtney Bell never really catch a chemistry to make
it believable that they're sisters. Dave Levine as Detective Mallory
also has a “I'm just here” type performance. It's not
poker-faced, but no one seems to be trying a whole helluva lot,
either. There's a few other performances that I won't delve into, but
the outcome is basically the same from everyone. I feel like if I
were to walk outside my house right now and randomly pick neighbors
to star in a movie, I'd have similar results. I'm not knocking that;
sometimes that's all that's needed. But this movie is littered with
all kinds of life struggling dramatics. Aforementioned element is
honestly thicker than the scare factor, and it's really what killed
the film for me. Just too much of it coming from people I don't give
a squirt of piss about. One plus: Katie Parker in a Jersey T-shirt
and panties. I kinda wish that's what the entire film had been about.
There's not any straight bloodletting
here, but it's not that kind of movie anyway. The scares are definitely Absentia's strongest suit; there's just not enough of 'em.
Like I mentioned earlier, I got creeped a few times, even to the
point of looking over my shoulder, but all the bullshitery quickly
relinquished my fears at every turn.
Good fucking grief, the film score is
boring. I don't remember what the shit it sounds like during exciting
scenes, but for the dramatic moments it's just two solemn notes (one
slowly after the other), and it will damn near put your ass to sleep.
The jogging sequences I mentioned earlier are accompanied by some
post-90s emo sounding stuff... crap, for lack of a better word. Oh
how I miss the sounds of indie bands that played house shows and
never made it further than 3 years of existence. At least that shit
was real. Anyway, that's for another day.
Yeah, I can't say I was too terribly
thrilled with Absentia. Maybe it's just me, though, as judging from
review snippets on the posters it was pretty well received by many. Just not
my cup of tea, I suppose.
P.S- I originally saw this over at Mr. Gable's Reality, so props to Mr. Gable. Seriously, how many fucking movies are gonna have this same boxart? You fuckin' kiddin' me?
