Horror as a genre feels most potent whenever it holds a mirror up to society and excavate something that goes far beyond the superficially grotesque.
Dodging the reveal, it’s a real feast for the eyes.Īmulet world premiered as a midnight screening at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26th. Soon enough, Tomaz’s two timelines intersect in wholly unpredictable ways, drawing the connections between that fatefully intervening nun, the talisman Tomaz discovered in the woods, the terrified woman from his past, and the secrets that all three inhabitants are hiding. At the dilapidated house in which he now finds himself, Tomaz is tasked with tending to the household needs of Magda (Juri), an awkward and withdrawn young woman, and her sickly mother sequestered on the top floor who it turns out is keeping her daughter a virtual prisoner and abusing her as well. Coming to in a hospital, Tomaz is greeted by Sister Claire (Imelda Staunton), who was able to save what precious little he has and furthers her generosity in offering him a live-in job opportunity. His PTSD from war is such that he binds his arms and feet with duct tape before sleep to prevent injury in the throes of his night terrors, which makes escape difficult when a presumed anti-immigrant fanatic sets fire to the place and he barely makes it out intact.
In the present day, Tomaz leads a rootless existence picking up odd gigs as a day laborer while living in a squat with other refugees. In short order, two key things transpire, which will become important in the film’s climax: Tomaz discovers a small carved figurine under the topsoil in the forest-the titular object-and a distressed woman sprinting towards his outpost enters his orbit. As the film opens, Tomaz is manning a checkpoint in solitude on a little-traveled road miles from the nearest village. Plus, Garai is expectedly hyper-attentive to the modulations of her fellow actors’ performances and Amulet proves a dazzling showcase for both Carla Juri and Alec Secareanu, who seal the action.Īmulet unfolds in two intertwining timelines: Tomaz’s (Secareanu) past as a soldier in an unnamed foreign conflict, and in the now as an immigrant living in London. It’s an uncommonly confident outing for a first-time feature director.
Ruminating on the themes of sin, accountability, irrevocable regret and gender, the multi-layered feminist horror unspools with great finesse with Garai leading the charge. Yet “Wetlands” has more on its mind than gross-out humor.Actress-turned-filmmaker Romola Garai’s Amulet trumpeted her arrival as an audacious new visionary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Somehow, Wnendt has pulled it off: The issue of bodily fluids has rarely been this funny.
CARLA JURI LOOKS LIKE SEAN YOUNG MOVIE
This movie is based on a book of the same name, and by all accounts, the German best-seller was considered almost impossible to translate into film. Juri - remember that name - lends a sense of vulnerability to a character who never ceases to surprise with her outrageous acts and observations.Ĭonsider yourself warned: This sexually graphic whirlwind is not for everyone, yet there’s no denying that “Wetlands” is virtuoso filmmaking that gives a whole new meaning to the term “damaged goods.” Director David Wnendt doesn’t pull a punch as he piles up one comically obscene set piece after the other, including one of the most memorable pizza scenes in cinematic history. But underneath that carefree exterior is a neurotic, depressed and deranged young woman with a trust issue or two. Helen ( Carla Juri, superb) details every orifice in her body in an easygoing, guilt-free manner, and when she describes her sexual activities with vegetables, she might as well be talking about her day at the farmers’ market.
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