"Hereditary" Review
Not only is "Hereditary" an amazing horror movie but it also happens to be a very compelling family drama. Similar to "The Babadook", Hereditary is a study of grief and how different people react and interact with it. The events that follows on screen are emotionally draining and often times traumatic. It's really unsettling and disturbing and having these horror beats rooted in grounded characters makes these moments all the more effective thanks to writer/director Ari Aster's stellar vision and masterful direction.
From the opening shot alone, we get a sense that we're passing judgment on these people. It's an impossible shot and it feels Brechtian in its intention to distance the characters from the audience. Similar to how in Brechtian theatre where the audience knows that they're watching a play and knowing that makes the audience ask what the play is doing to them and to the political structure around it, at times, Hereditary makes the view aware that it's a movie because of some of its use of impossible geography and its choice in extreme wide shots and long takes. At least for me. (If you're interested in the formalism of it all, check out Aster's discussion of "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" with Cinefix on YouTube.) To summarize my thoughts here: the cinematography is great and it requires focus from the viewer. Every shot feels calculated and every camera move and edit walks the fine line between showing enough and holding back on what to reveal.
The cast is solid with standout performances. Milly Shapiro takes a very quiet character and minimal dialogue and makes her character matter and empathetic. Toni Collette gives one of the most intense performances I've ever seen in a horror movie since Essie Davis in The Babadook. It does get a little bit out there towards the end, as far as dialogue and acting goes but I'm fine with that because the rest of the experience felt so... bananas (I was looking for a good word to describe the feeling but it escapes me as of writing this).
I don't feel the need to walk out of movies when they're good but this one made me feel trapped and traumatized and I thought about walking out to take a breather before resuming. I mean this in the best possible way because at the end of the day, I went to see a horror movie and that's exactly what I got. I think Hereditary stands up on its own next to classics like "The Shining" and "The Exorcist". It takes its time to set things up and the payoff is grand. Do be warned, this movie fucked me up and horror movies almost never fuck me up. Watch this at your own discretion. If you're a parent... You should probably stay away from this. You have been warned.