Nicolas Pesce’s masterfully crafted monochromatic images in The Eyes of My Mother (2016) tells the story of a mother and a daughter; a daughter who
doesn’t know much about her mother but, still yearns to follow in (what she
perceives as) her mother’s steps. Alas, the daughter doesn’t know she is falling
into a irredeemable void rather than climbing up the steps. If “The Eyes of My
Mother” sounds like a typical coming-of-age drama, I got to insist that it’s not. It is
a disturbing psychodrama, pervaded with unnerving atmosphere of madness. It
pushes you through the kind of horrifying movie experience which may either
make you love it or hate it. The visceral reaction the first time
director/writer Nicolas Pesce derives definitely won’t make us feel good as the
end credits start rolling. I was little disappointed with “The Eyes of My
Mother” since it doesn’t expand upon its thematic elements to become a truly
powerful horror movie of the year. It’s neither an exploration of a human
psyche nor offers social commentary. The cryptic quality ingrained in the
narrative feels a bit thin towards the end rather than exhibit profundity. I
think of this as the movie’s flaw since Mr. Nicolas doesn’t seem to be only interested
in shocking the viewers or simply stay within the genre’s limited territory. Nevertheless,
it’s an admirable American Gothic.
The Eyes of My Mother opens inside a giant truck. The truck
driver hears a cheery song on the radio. He sees a woman in the
middle of the road and gears it down to a halt. The camera is affixed inside the
truck gazing outside. It kind of provides the claustrophobic, uneasily calm
atmosphere that persists throughout the narrative. The woman lies down in fetal position in the scorching road. Who knows what horrors she has
witnessed? Told in three chapters (‘Mother’, ‘Father’, & “Family’), this
story of fractured minds & mutilated bodies then shifts to an isolated
small-town American farm. The young nine or ten year old Francisca (Olivia Bond) is seen picking wildflowers with her mother (Diana Agostini), who was
once an eye surgeon in Portugal. Now the woman only does gardening and housekeeping
chores, gently nudging her daughter to be good and grow up to be a woman she
once was. The mother also shows to Francisca on how to gently dissect a dead cow’s eyes,
which she says is just like human eye (but only a bit larger). The stoic father
doesn’t say a word and is always occupied with some errands. One day, a stranger
in white-shirt and with an unsettling smile, visits Francisca’s house. This drifter
named Charlie (Will Brill) brutally murders the mother.
The murderer is captured by the father and he chains him in the
barn. The mother is buried with the help of Francisca. The father is highly
detached to take the role of a parent. The void inside Francisca gradually deepens. When
Charlie asks to the little girl, “Are you gonna kill me?”, she replies, “Why
would I kill you? you’re my only friend”. To keep this friend from running away
and to make father feel proud of her, Francisca sews Charlie’s wounds and then
perfectly sews his eyes & severs the vocal cord. The chapter ends with
little Francisca dancing with her father, thinking that the void is filled. The
static frame suddenly cuts to the next chapter. Time has passed. The little
girl has grown to be a young woman (Kirk Magalhaes) and her father has just
died. The adult Francisca bathes her father’s corpse and is reluctant to let go
of it. The bony, naked, eyeless Charlie still lays in the barn, gorging on little
food Francisca brings him. The young woman’s actions become increasingly
senseless as she engages in casual torture to embrace a twisted normalcy. The
narrative gets distressingly strange as Francisca lures in innocent people into
her isolated house.
The lack of precise explanation and the big time gaps may
either escalate the terror quotient or it may frustrate you, based upon your
engagement in the story. It is better to approach The Eyes of My Mother as a
dark fairy tale which doesn’t follow a logical path. Director Nicolas Pesce
cites “Night of the Hunter” (1955) as his inspiration. Like that masterpiece,
Nicolas’ script also deals with reaction of a family to emotional trauma. The
perfect Gothic sets in Night of the Hunter imbues a very bleak tone, yet the
proceedings resembles a fairy tale. The Eyes of My Mother is also a journey
into a mythical dark tunnel, except that this tunnel is sealed on both sides,
unlike the possibility of piercing light in Night of the Hunter. There’s no
Lilian Gish-like character and the child (Francisca) never breaks away from
asphyxiating loneliness. Nicolas Pesce doesn’t stop with the weirdly beautiful
expressionist composition; he also revels in the body-horror elements,
reminding the brutal vision of Takashi Mike. The strength of the film, however,
is that it never immerses fully into exploitation flick territory. For the most
part, the brutality and violence is only suggested. There’s only one sequence
when you see someone getting killed on-screen. But even in this scene, you
don’t witness the close shot of a sharp knife mutilating the body. You just
hear the sound of knife plunging into human skin. These suggestions I felt are
more disturbing than vividly detailed exhibition of torture.
The sound design is absolutely flawless. It adds a lot to
our terrifying experience. The sound of a shovel digging at wet ground; the
sound of rattling chains as the blinded person moves forward; the sound of
tortured prisoner walking through the grass-fields; the sound of a crying child;
the sound of Francisca scraping the floor to get rid of blood stains – the
sound haunted me as much as the well-crafted frames. Director Nicolas Pesce has
also done the editing work. He creates the perfect disorienting factor when he
suddenly cuts away from one static shot to another. This is an extraordinarily
assured direction for a first time director. Even when the narrative takes some
conventional or predictable turns, Nicolas’ crisp monochrome composition
continues to holds our attention. As I mentioned earlier, the film’s flaw lies
in its less profound approach in exploring the mislaid sense of morality. The
director refers to Christian iconography whenever disturbed Francisca performs
deeds, which in a way she believes to be part of divine being’s plan. The
references lead to epitomization which totally lacks the depth. While this
perceived flaw didn’t give me a wholly satisfying horror movie experience, it
certainly doesn’t affect the pervading atmosphere of terror. Kirk Magalhaes’
(acclaimed dancer-choreographer) intriguing performance brought to mind the
Angela Bettis’ haunting presence in the body-horror “May”. The subdued physicality Magalhaes imbues to her character makes adult Francisca a more
complex being than the usual, thin portrayal of psycho girl.
Trailer
The Eyes of My Mother (76 minutes) makes us feel like we’re
stuck within a terrible nightmare or that we are witnessing something we should
never have. Its inexplicable narrative may not appeal to those with a
narrow-minded view about horror feature.
★★★½
No comments:
Post a Comment