Text by Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films,
2014
Images from the Internet
Filmkon©ept Scandinavia
MVD Visual
77 minutes, 2013
www.filmkoncept.com
www.mvdvisual.com
Images from the Internet
Mara
Directed by Jacob Kondrup, Fredrik
Hedberg, and Åke GustafssonFilmkon©ept Scandinavia
MVD Visual
77 minutes, 2013
www.filmkoncept.com
www.mvdvisual.com
The Swedes
make some interesting and surprising creepy films. For example the title of Mara can be translated as either a
succubus, a spirit who brings mishaps, or as a name it means “bitter” (as does Miriam,
Mary or Marie).
Mara has a basic plot theme which can be
found in films from the late ‘70s on: told in flashback, a group of friends (here
its three women, two dudes) go to a desolate country farm house in which a
murder took place years before that was witnessed by the protagonist, Jenny (Angelica
Jansson); her mother stabbed her father multiple times in a jealous rage. Of
course, mom has been released from the asylum, and people are dying. You’re
probably saying, “Been there, seen that.”
Ah, but we’re
talking about Scandinavian cinema, where there is a lot of smoke and mirrors,
along with a sense of cinemafantastique.
For a while I figured out the story, but then realized, no, I didn’t. That was
a pleasant surprise. I did not see the second reveal at all. Yes, there are
multiple reveals, resulting in a very interesting picture.
I know I
have recently complained about how walking around a house in the dark with
tense music for some length of time can turn anxiety into impatience, but the
directors do a splendid job at keeping your attention throughout multiple, “what
was that noise/shadow/figure?” sequences.
Most of the
cast is fodder for nudity and body count, of course, as some things shall not go rewritten, but it doesn’t
matter because there are only two key figures to the story: the first is the
creepy mom (Mia Möller) who shows up in sequences that are reminiscent of Boris
Karloff in Mario Bava’s 1963 I tre volti della
paura (aka Black Sabbath). The
other, of course, is the lead of Jenny. It’s hard to believe this is Jansson’s
first role because she grabs it and plays full tilt. I’m sure it helps that the
film is in her native Swedish (with English subtitles), but she gives a stellar
performance, full of nuance and body language, from surprised to bored to,
well, terror. Plus she is an incredibly attractive woman who has… huge tracks
of land, and the director puts her in clothes that play that off well without
making it only a cleavage-fest. That’s left for the other actors (though Jansson
does get a chance to appear with ample bosom showing as well, early on during a
dinner scene).
The look of
the film, with its bluish colors and artistic flair – especially the dream and
remembrance sequences – reminds me a bit of the Giallo cinema of the 1970 and
‘80s, such as the aforementioned Bava and Dario Argento, without all the
strange angles and extreme zooming close-ups. After all, this is mean-what-you-say-say-what-you-mean
Lutheran Sweden, not the pomp and circumstance Roman Catholic Italy. Even
spectacle is more subtle up there. But gore? That’s another story. There is a
long history of shock cinema coming from Sweden since the 1960s, enough to
literally fill a book [HERE].
While an
enjoyable film from beginning to end, it is not perfect. For example, one of
the questions I have, and this isn’t just this one but in general: When
something is a flashback, why do they include scenes with dialog where the person
telling the story is not present? How would she know what was discussed,
especially if they were talking about her and it’s a family secret? Okay,
perhaps that is nitpicking, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong, does it?
There have
been a lot of films of late from the European Theatre that have just dove head
first into the muck and mire of gore, shock and, well, more gore. Here,
however, they have taken a step back and kept the blood (most of it “after” the
act), but put the suspense and terror to the front. Doing this, they have
denied none of the artistic license of shadows moving, smart editing, spooky
lighting and solid acting.
But this is Jansson’s
picture, and a good one to start her portfolio (and as of this writing it remains
her only credit in IMDB). She doesn’t let her beauty stand in the way of giving
a strong performance where she must grimace, look confused, and terrified; then
there’s the obligatory shower scene, of course. I’m hoping she’s given more
chances than modeling in fashion and men’s mags.
There are
some nice extras included. The first is a 75 minute day-by-day shooting diary
for the seven-day gig. One nice thing is they show you how they set up the
shot, and then they actually show you the scene, so you can see what they are
talking about (don’t forget to turn on the English captions for the extras).
What’s also enjoyable is you get to see some more, well, body parts. Third, one
occurance that is on this extra that isn’t in the film as much is Angelica’s
bright smile.
The second
is a four-minute piece of Hedberg meeting Angelica for the first time to see if
she is right for the part. This is followed by a brief phone conversation
(while driving!) with one of the other directors on how it felt like a positive
experience. Obviously, it all worked out.
Of course
there’s the trailer for the film, and a three-minute in-house video interview
with Jansson dressed in total model mode at the test screening, discussing her
experience. She is definitely bright (a degree in Environmental Science!), and
she says though she won’t chase roles, she would be happy to do another. Good.
She also posits that the film turned out better than she expected. Amen,
sister.
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