Two terrific performances anchor this taut, contained thriller which is able to little doubt provoke sturdy reactions as soon as it comes out.
PLOT: Two dad and mom (Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys) obtain a panicked telephone name from their college-age daughter, who’s simply hit and killed somebody whereas intoxicated on a distant highway. The 2 rush to her whereas grappling with the choice about deal with a state of affairs that may doubtless land her in jail and destroy her life.
REVIEW: How far would you go to guard your youngsters? That’s the query Babak Anvari’s (Beneath the Shadow) Hallow Street asks. Whereas it’s a well-recognized one, what makes Hallow Street distinctive is that the dad and mom on this film aren’t essentially racing to avoid wasting their youngsters from an exterior drive however somewhat from a lethal calamity of their very own making.
Working a taut eighty minutes, Hallow Street takes place largely in a automotive, as Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys race the clock to drive out to the distant highway of the title to avoid wasting their daughter, Alice (Megan McDonnell), who’s simply made the most important mistake of her life, recent off of getting a large blow-out along with her people. What’s distinctive concerning the film is how flawed everyone seems to be, with Alice no pure-hearted sufferer, as she’s keen to do what she has to keep away from paying the results of her personal actions.
After all, one thing occurs about midway via the movie, which brings it extra according to Anvari’s different, extra genre-based movies, when it turns into one thing of a morality story/ fable concerning the protecting gene baked into dad and mom, which provokes them to do amoral issues to avoid wasting their youngsters. It asks you to think about the truth that, by continually defending youngsters from the results of their very own actions, you wind up with children who, whilst adults, nonetheless depend on their dad and mom for every little thing and have little to no scruples of their very own.
It’s a terrifically paced two-hander, with Pike and Rhys excellent of their roles. Of the 2, Pike is enjoying the marginally extra conscientious father or mother, being a burnt-out paramedic who has some empathy for Alice’s sufferer. Against this, Rhys’s character is solely targeted on getting their daughter out of hazard; penalties to himself (or anybody else) be damned.
But, the film additionally doesn’t decide both of the dad and mom, permitting you to make up your individual thoughts about their actions. Pike and Rhys are two of the most effective within the biz, and all through the scant operating time, they provide a masterclass in performing, with this one of many best-contained thrillers in latest reminiscence.
Nonetheless, the extra genre-based twist appears susceptible to divide audiences a bit. Whereas I used to be watching it, I wasn’t certain it totally labored, however a mid-credits Easter egg modified my opinion as I walked out of the screening. Because it ended, it’s a film that I’ve been chewing on, having made an even bigger impression on me than I initially thought.
Anvari does a wonderful job maintaining the movie visually fascinating regardless of the contained nature of the movie. One actually cool addition to the movie is the rating by Lorne Balfe and Peter Adams, which uniquely makes use of a symphonic rendition of the Depeche Mode basic “Behind the Wheel” because the film’s fundamental theme. As a significant DM fan, I discovered this facet scrumptious.
It’ll be fascinating to see how style followers react to Hallow Street when it comes out. Whereas it’s indirectly labeled as a supernatural thriller, there are parts of that at play right here, and so they work fairly effectively. The film virtually felt like a feature-length model of a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode, albeit finished with plenty of type. It’s the type of morality story a man like Rod Serling would have appreciated.
