Gerald's Game (2017)
Now, I've seen my fair share of Stephen King adaptations. As far as they go, this isn't quite Kubrick's The Shining in terms of cinematography, and it isn't half as terrifying as 1408 (that movie is sincerely underrated in the scare stakes). It does what the most successful of King's short story adaptations do, which is emphasizing the small scale and focusing on the psychological rather than trying to create spooky specters - a matter of preference, of course.
Gerald's Game is all about a woman torturing herself. Well: it's about a couple whose misguided foray into bondage is derailed by the man's heart attack, leaving his wife handcuffed to the bed with no escape route in sight. Jessie, the woman in question, is played by Carla Gugino, and her portrayal of the character's withdrawal from reality is easily what makes this movie worth watching. You get hooked in with the "this could really happen" 127 Hours type premise, but you stay for the spiral of self-loathing and fight for survival.
The first two thirds of this movie are excellent. The depictions of abuse in this movie are honest, and don't feel exploitative - apparently I'm really into movies with gut-wrenching, realistic depictions of abuse this year. I wanted to cradle Gugino through the screen, which is credit to her as an actress. I did also really enjoy the way they drew in the audience, with the character's credibility in question, and elements become unclear as to whether they're in her head or more tangible than that.
And then...the movie ends in such a weird place. Obviously, no spoilers in this review, but there is a section of voiceover narration that goes on for such an extended period of time. It contains some interesting information, but it is overly expository and to the point where it's detracting rather than adding on. It's information that could have been shared in other ways, and indeed, is followed with a more effective sequence. They did so well with their management of gore and making even my stomach squirm a bit (my sister passed out), but then the ending just seemed clumsy and quickly thrown together. Everything just petered out as it was gaining steam.
Rating: 7/10 - A solid film with some really difficult renderings of gaslighting and manipulation that definitely gets hard to watch, but good if you want a high stakes thriller. Just ignore the way the ending kind of...falls away.
Gerald's Game is all about a woman torturing herself. Well: it's about a couple whose misguided foray into bondage is derailed by the man's heart attack, leaving his wife handcuffed to the bed with no escape route in sight. Jessie, the woman in question, is played by Carla Gugino, and her portrayal of the character's withdrawal from reality is easily what makes this movie worth watching. You get hooked in with the "this could really happen" 127 Hours type premise, but you stay for the spiral of self-loathing and fight for survival.
The first two thirds of this movie are excellent. The depictions of abuse in this movie are honest, and don't feel exploitative - apparently I'm really into movies with gut-wrenching, realistic depictions of abuse this year. I wanted to cradle Gugino through the screen, which is credit to her as an actress. I did also really enjoy the way they drew in the audience, with the character's credibility in question, and elements become unclear as to whether they're in her head or more tangible than that.
And then...the movie ends in such a weird place. Obviously, no spoilers in this review, but there is a section of voiceover narration that goes on for such an extended period of time. It contains some interesting information, but it is overly expository and to the point where it's detracting rather than adding on. It's information that could have been shared in other ways, and indeed, is followed with a more effective sequence. They did so well with their management of gore and making even my stomach squirm a bit (my sister passed out), but then the ending just seemed clumsy and quickly thrown together. Everything just petered out as it was gaining steam.
Rating: 7/10 - A solid film with some really difficult renderings of gaslighting and manipulation that definitely gets hard to watch, but good if you want a high stakes thriller. Just ignore the way the ending kind of...falls away.
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