Resurrection - Movie Review

Critics Score - 7 of 10

General Audience Score - 7 of 10

When it comes to the Academy Awards and Oscar contenders, especially in the varying acting races, the horror genre is regularly and inexplicably ignored. As a shining example, Lupita Nyong’o was passed over by the Oscar awards body for Best Actress when her two-fold performance in Us from 2018 was undeniably one of the best performances of the year, possibly among the best of the decade. This year we’ll be in the same exact scenario with Rebecca Hall, a severely underrated actress that’s been churning out great performances for years, who stars in the new thriller/horror film from IFC, Resurrection. When I tell you, Hall is unbelievably good in this movie, I’m probably making an understatement. I’ve immediately placed her at the top of my personal Best Actress performances of the year, albeit without still having seen many of the supposed contenders as of this writing. While the film around Hall doesn’t shine quite as brilliantly as she does, it’s still an entertaining and enjoyable watch that many audiences of all types will have a blast with. While countless other horror films will bring back the dead in an effort to create great cinema, Hall’s incredible work is proof enough to make us believe in this Resurrection.

SYNOPSIS - This train ride down the track that travels right between the lands of reality and fantasy begins with Gwyn (Angela Wong Carbone) speaking to her boss Margaret (Rebecca Hall) about some problems she’s been having with what we assume to be a male coworker. Margaret gives her some advice and we get to observe the tall and slender Hall sporting a dark pants suit, the calm and collected demeanor she exudes gives off the professional business woman vibes to a tee. This is not a person easily rattled and as Gwyn asks her not to tell anyone about their conversation, we get our first glimpses of her cool, borderline icy tone and rock hard resolve as she shakes her head and responds, “Of course not. . . Fort Knox.” As she heads back to her office, her bob haircut bounces back and forth as she’s walking down corridors and weaving her way around cubicles, before grabbing her black bag from her office and heading home. We then watch her stretching in the overcast afternoon, she cranes her long neck back and forth, loosening up as she prepares for a run, this is a disciplined person, as she runs along the riverfront, the focus and drive in her eyes is unmistakable. Rebecca Hall has transformed into Margaret and embodied this character in all it’s facets, the level of acting present is crystal clear from the film’s first few opening sequences, with the real fireworks show to come.

She gets home to exactly what we expect, a luxurious and well organized residence, gets on the phone with Peter (Michael Esper) whom she invites over and they get down to some business of the bedroom variety. “How’s the wife?”, she asks after taking what she’s after from their exchange, the well written screenplay giving Hall plenty of space to explore the nuances of this character. The following morning it’s business as usual, getting ready for work, but we see a softer and more playful side of Margaret as she jumps onto her daughter Abbie’s (Grace Kaufman) bed and rolls back and forth over her, the care and love of a mother temporarily overriding the colder and more structured business woman.  The film’s cinematography later showcases some of the downtown skyscrapers, then we see Margaret in her office, her character mirroring the tall, sleek architectural buildings like the one she inhabits from nine to five. Even the subtle costume design reflecting the colors of buildings set against the backdrop of a dreary day with blacks and dark grays being her color scheme of choice, as well the precision of our character, there’s no room for sloppiness. The film begins to drop us some clues of some underlying issues, but these begin to bubble to the surface when David (Tim Roth) a mysterious figure from her past, begins to appear at different points, much to Margaret’s alarm. As her relationship with David starts getting clearer with more of his appearances, the more cracks we begin to see in her characters mental strength and fortitude. Again, another tribute to how impressive the work Hall is doing, I probably need to stop raving. Her confidence, focus and resolve begin to deteriorate as we finish the second act and move into the third, our strong “champion” protagonist being mentally reduced to rubble by the finale.

As I’ve mentioned, this film is well written as well as directed, Hall is unbelievable but the rest of the supporting cast, including Hall’s counterpart Roth, are well cast and carry their weight onscreen. Some of the dialogue hints at some supernatural events, but the film stays extremely grounded, so we’re constantly pulled back and forth and guessing as to what’s real and what’s not. Where the screenplay fails the film is that the real meat of the story takes a while to start unfolding. Story aside, there were also a few points the film dragged and I felt the editing could’ve been tightened up to help keep a better pace. At a little over a hour and forty minutes, they probably could’ve trimmed down on some of the character development in the end, Hall gives us so much and it’s all fantastic, but in the end it feels a bit stretched out. The film has some nice cinematic shots and the camera work is good but nothing too wild and certainly nothing that’ll get it any kind of recognition. The soundtrack also is well constructed, some of violin strumming mimicking the pulsating heartbeat of the central character as the tension begins to increase. But this film needs to be seen, even if it won’t make many critics or audiences top movies of the year lists, go see this movie for Rebecca Hall, she should make some critics Best Actresses lists, I can’t emphasize this point enough.

SUMMARY - When all is said and done, because it stays so firmly grounded in reality, this film will have all audiences guessing as to what’s real and what is not until the very end. Without spoiling whether this Resurrection is real or make-believe, one thing is for certain, Hall’s performance is truly the real miracle here.