Things Will Be Different (dir. Michael Felker)
As Sidney (Riley Dandy) enters the diner which will serve as a post-robbery rendezvous point for she and her brother Joseph (Adam David Thompson), Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose’s Too Late to Turn Back Now plays over the jukebox. It’s just one of many fantastic needledrops contained within the film that cheekily drives home its themes. It is indeed too late for these siblings to turn back. They’ve got guns, a big bag of money, and a bunch of cops on their tail. The specifics aren’t laid out, but we immediately get the sense that both parties desperately need this haul of cash, and if they can manage to lie low for long enough, they’ll be able to get away with it scot-free. The duo soon relocates to an abandoned house where it is revealed that with a few incantations and a handful of pulled levers, so to speak, anyone within this house is granted the ability to exist outside of time — a perfect way to duck the heat and turn their crime into a victimless one. But there’s a catch: leaving the property is not so easy.
I’m being purposefully vague here, but that isn’t to say that the film gives provides much more by way of specifics. The script, by writer/director Michael Felker, purposefully plays the details close to the chest, allowing for a compelling mystery to unfold in not-so-real time. The fact of the matter is that neither Joe nor Sid understand the mechanisms behind this mysterious, supernatural location, and are only following instructions provided to them by the absentee owner of the property and a series of recordings that have manifested from an adjacent time.
What starts as an “on the lam” crime picture soon becomes a riff on films like Timecrimes and Primer, where the plot mechanics become a sort of character all their own. But unlike, say, Inception, Things Will Be Different does not hold the viewer’s hand to ensure that it all makes sense, because frankly, we can only know what the protagonists know, and they don’t know much at all. The resulting film is puzzling in the best of ways. It’s not cryptic by any means, but it demands an active audience. Even though the answers don’t come easily, it all makes sense within the confines of the film — it’s dissimilar from Primer in that it doesn’t work double time to keep the viewer at a distance, defying them to keep up. But once the credits roll, there’s plenty of food for thought. I, for one, cannot wait until a few friends of mine have seen this one so we can toss some theories around. Added value, really.
Both Dandy and Thompson are fantastic in their roles, creating a sibling dynamic that lends a heart and soul to what could have easily been a novelty genre exercise. The familial bond between them is genuine, motivating many surprising and satisfying character turns.
Things Will Be Different is the best kind of head-scratcher, and one I’ll be thinking about for some time.
Exhuma (dir. Jae-hyun Jang)
Steeped in dense mythology and over two hours long, Exhuma is a film that asks a lot of its viewers. But those willing to give it a go and let the charms(?) of this gorgeous epic horror flick wash over them will receive one of the most terrifying filmgoing experiences of recent memory. Strong imagery and a densely rendered soundscape assault the senses while a compelling and spooky mystery leaves one’s brain tingling with fear. Shades of The Wailing and The Medium are immediately apparent, but even so, Exhuma is wholly unique in the way it delivers consistent shock and terror.
The film follows a team of investigators, as we’ll call them, drawn from a variety of paranormal backgrounds to assist a wealthy couple who fears their newborn is suffering from a supernatural malady. Long story short, this team of professionals (one even goes by the incredible moniker of “geomancer”) traces the affliction to a hidden burial site, where it is determined that the only way to put an end to it is to exhume and relocate the body within. Seems easy enough, right? Well, then there wouldn’t be a movie, would there? After the exhumation, shit goes horribly wrong, and it is apparent that something much more sinister than a restless spirit has been awakened and released.
While it may be a benefit to watch this movie with some sort of cursory knowledge of Korean spirituality/mythology, the script does wonders explaining the rules and stakes in real time, making things easy to follow and even easier to be terrified by. I went in completely blind and came out of it with a decent understanding of a chunk of new-to-me folklore, as well as a desire to dove into a wiki hole. I do wonder if, for those with a working knowledge of this stuff, the consistently escalating mystery may lose some of its luster. Even if this were the case, it would only be a small hindrance. Things happen so quickly, and escalate at such a maddening rate, that by the time the film enters its final act it evokes the feeling of a roller coaster careening off of its track.
None of this would work without a strong cast of characters, and even though the film loses sight of the family who provides the inciting incident, the foursome who eventually become the film’s center have strong characterizations, both as individuals and as a team. Remarkably, the script finds a way for each of their individual talents to be utilized in attempting to put and end to one of the most brilliantly designed beasties this side of Onibaba. This growth happens organically and develops in such a way that the relentless terror is regularly punctuated with a sweet charm. The downside is that said charm makes the horror that much more painful — a lot of people suffer in big ways.
It’s no surprise that Exhuma has been a huge hit in its home country of South Korea, and it’s likely that its simmering appeal will soon bubble over into international success. It seems destined for a pointless American remake, but hopefully it will find a global audience in its current form. Those local to me (Philly) should be pleased to know that it’s currently Playing at the AMC in Plymouth Meeting. You’d be correct to make the trip if you can.
There’s this one scene…
