#4: Beneath | via Netflix streaming
A coal miner is celebrating his retirement with fellow miners and his daughter, who is leaving soon for law school, a privilege earned by his father's decades under the ground. A somewhat tipsy barroom discussion leads to her agreeing to head into the mine for one day, to finally see what her dad's been doing to help her build her dreams. It does not go well.
It goes without saying that there's a mine collapse, and during said collapse a passage opens deep in the mine. Help is days away, oxygen is running low, and boy that narrow gap in the wall sure does go in pretty deep. I wonder if there's anything in there, waiting to come out.
Predictable setup, right? Well, no. The film has several tricks up its sleeve, and not of the "OMG what a twist" variety. To even hint would be to spoil, so I'll instead talk about how the film goes about what it is about: with patience.
The story is told through the daughter's vantage point, and it leverages her unfamiliarity with being underground to create an unease that hums in the background the moment she steps into the mine. There's a very long shot as she follows the workers down the stairs into darkness, each step echoing, each step causing daylight to fade behind. And she keeps going, and going, and going, broken only by a longing look back at daylight, knowing it would be her last for a while. It's a masterful way to build discomfort, a feeling of leaving the familiar.
The director builds on this unease by holding takes just a little longer than usual. Characters end conversations and step out of frame, leaving the scene in near darkness for a few seconds; just long enough so we can study the shadows for shapes familiar and strange. The camera lingers peering at a corner, but not around it. Looking toward a passageway, but not into it. Listening to footsteps, of which there might be one or two too many.
As oxygen slowly leaves the cave and fear and desperation rise among the survivors, darkness subtly creeps in along with the panic. As lamps fade, glow sticks provide just enough light to see characters in the darkness, but little else; they might reach out to find a rock wall, and we can barely see their hand find it, while we (and they) hope a rock wall is all they find in the dark. There are long moments in the film where the lights go out, and rather than turn on the night vision so we can see what is happening to the characters, the lights actually go out: Absolute, pitch darkness for long, uncomfortable moments, where all we can do is listen as characters try to find their way. They are harrowing moments.
This is a very good film. Not perfect, as there are moments when characters made bad decisions for reasons of plotting, and there is a jump scare or two too many, disrupting the otherwise steadily mounting tension. There are a few too many characters to establish given the slim, fat-free running time (90 minutes). But overall this was a thriller with strong horror elements and a willingness to let its story unfold slowly, confident that sometimes tension does not need diffusing for a very long time.
Highly recommended and my first actual good film of the marathon.
Recap so far, with asterisks (let's pretend they are pumpkins) on a 1-5 scale.
A coal miner is celebrating his retirement with fellow miners and his daughter, who is leaving soon for law school, a privilege earned by his father's decades under the ground. A somewhat tipsy barroom discussion leads to her agreeing to head into the mine for one day, to finally see what her dad's been doing to help her build her dreams. It does not go well.
It goes without saying that there's a mine collapse, and during said collapse a passage opens deep in the mine. Help is days away, oxygen is running low, and boy that narrow gap in the wall sure does go in pretty deep. I wonder if there's anything in there, waiting to come out.
Predictable setup, right? Well, no. The film has several tricks up its sleeve, and not of the "OMG what a twist" variety. To even hint would be to spoil, so I'll instead talk about how the film goes about what it is about: with patience.
The story is told through the daughter's vantage point, and it leverages her unfamiliarity with being underground to create an unease that hums in the background the moment she steps into the mine. There's a very long shot as she follows the workers down the stairs into darkness, each step echoing, each step causing daylight to fade behind. And she keeps going, and going, and going, broken only by a longing look back at daylight, knowing it would be her last for a while. It's a masterful way to build discomfort, a feeling of leaving the familiar.
The director builds on this unease by holding takes just a little longer than usual. Characters end conversations and step out of frame, leaving the scene in near darkness for a few seconds; just long enough so we can study the shadows for shapes familiar and strange. The camera lingers peering at a corner, but not around it. Looking toward a passageway, but not into it. Listening to footsteps, of which there might be one or two too many.
As oxygen slowly leaves the cave and fear and desperation rise among the survivors, darkness subtly creeps in along with the panic. As lamps fade, glow sticks provide just enough light to see characters in the darkness, but little else; they might reach out to find a rock wall, and we can barely see their hand find it, while we (and they) hope a rock wall is all they find in the dark. There are long moments in the film where the lights go out, and rather than turn on the night vision so we can see what is happening to the characters, the lights actually go out: Absolute, pitch darkness for long, uncomfortable moments, where all we can do is listen as characters try to find their way. They are harrowing moments.
This is a very good film. Not perfect, as there are moments when characters made bad decisions for reasons of plotting, and there is a jump scare or two too many, disrupting the otherwise steadily mounting tension. There are a few too many characters to establish given the slim, fat-free running time (90 minutes). But overall this was a thriller with strong horror elements and a willingness to let its story unfold slowly, confident that sometimes tension does not need diffusing for a very long time.
Highly recommended and my first actual good film of the marathon.
Recap so far, with asterisks (let's pretend they are pumpkins) on a 1-5 scale.
Code:
Date Movie Grade
10/1/2016 Stung **
10/2/2016 Animal **
10/3/2016 The Hallow *
10/4/2016 Beneath ****
