Brace For "Bring Her Back"

I didn't write a review for "Talk to Me," the feature debut of directors Danny and Michael Philippou, because I had a difficult time processing it.  I knew that it was unnerving and an unusually visceral piece of filmmaking, similar to Ari Aster's work.  I could admire it for its aesthetic and technical achievements, but it wasn't the kind of horror that I found entertaining.  I feel similarly about their newest film, "Bring Her Back," which is directed by the Philippou brothers, and written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman.  It's somewhat more accessible, but still the kind of horror intent on getting under your skin, and keeping you up at night.  

Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wang) are step-siblings who face being separated when their father Phil (Stephen Phillips) dies.  Andy is very protective of Piper, who is younger and visually impaired.  Their social worker, Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton), manages to place them together with a foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins), who is grieving the recent death of her daughter.  She also has another foster son, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), who is selectively mute and seems to be deeply disturbed.  Andy hopes to file for guardianship of Piper when he turns eighteen in a few months, but has a few bad incidents on his records, which means he has to stay in Laura's good graces.  She doesn't make it easy for him, displaying increasingly strange and hostile behavior that seems to be connected to her grief for Laura.

What's remarkable about "Bring Her Back" is how it conveys information.  We're told almost nothing directly about what Laura is doing until near the end.  The audience is left to piece together all the separate incidents and discoveries as they happen to Andy - a white substance forming a ring around the house, a missing child poster, glimpses of a disturbing video where a ritual is being performed in a foreign language - every new revelation ratcheting up the tension.  I was also very impressed with the depiction of Piper's experience and POV, often through tight insert shots of her hands and face as she feels her way through environments, or deals with obstacles.  Sora Wang, like Piper, is partially sighted, and it does make a difference.  "Bring Her Back" is a very tactile film, which makes the moments of violence and gore especially gruesome.  As with "Talk to Me," there's plenty of upsetting material involving harm to children.         

What "Bring Her Back" has over "Talk to Me," however, is the underlying sadness and trauma of all the characters.  Laura is clearly doing monstrous things to her charges, driven by great gulfs of desperate pain and emotion that Sally Hawkins is able to convey wonderfully.  She's the scariest when she's at her most calm and sounds the most reasonable, because she's clearly put together this lovely facade of a nice, normal person, but there's always something pinging as very wrong with her.  And the more we learn about Andy, Piper, and Oliver, the more desperate their situation is revealed to be.  You root for the kids because they've survived so much awfulness, and are on the verge of being subjected to so much worse.  

The Philippous' films are filled with horribly damaged people, both physically and mentally.  We see all the worst bits up close, and often for extended periods of time.  While there's relatively little violence in "Bring Her Back," what little there is has a greater impact because so much of it is intimate and realistic.  The Philippous linger on the discomfort, let it fill the screen, and refuse to cut away.  Several of the most memorable images are of Oliver, often with bloodshot eyes and other wounds and marks on his face.  It's difficult just to look at him, because the makeup work is so good, and the performance is so chilling - creating a picture of a child in obvious, festering pain.  

It took me some time to work up the courage to watch this film because of the content.  I strongly urge those with sensitivities to heed the warnings, because this is a tough one.  "Bring Her Back" is an excellent movie, and never gratuitous, but it's not an experience to take lightly.

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