A young girl named
Chloe is raised by her paranoid father in a locked-down house. Each day he
drills her on ‘being normal’. She doesn’t know why he does that. And as she
grows older she yearns to go outside.
*There will be a slight spoiler in this review (sorry)*
There is something with Emile Hirsch-movies and them flying
under the radar for me. I just stumbled upon this movie and ‘gave it a go’
since he was in it (and I’ve always liked his movies starting with The girl
next door (2004)). What I got was, basically, the adult version of The
Incredibles (2004). I think that’s the only spoiler I’ll allow myself here.
The powers that be.
There is quite a nice of movies dealing with the same
subject material (Push (2009) comes to mind): People with powers and those evil
people without hunting them. And yes, just like that storyline in the X-men
universe, it’s not wise to rattle a hornets’ nest.
Basically. the debate being: if these special people are
just as human as the rest of us, pushing them will eventually cause them to
push back. It’s the comic book/science fiction approach to how terrorist groups
are born.
NOTE: for convenience sake leaving religious terrorism way
out the door and just focussing on suppressed humans.
Using a small budget FREAKS (Oh, I wished they picked a
better title) manages to start off as a ‘closed quarters’ family drama much
like last year’s Bird box (2018). Only for it in the end, to go all out with
special effects when the ‘supers’ get angry. And even then the final count of
different sets in this movie remains minimal. When you get down to it this
movie could easily have been a stage play as it were.
Now, I must admit that the fiction told in FREAKS is a bit
too bleak and dark for my taste. The abovementioned ‘creating terrorists’
doesn’t automatically mean that you (the viewer) will approve what the main
characters are willing to do to survive. But, then again, it does create this
wonderful murky waters of identifying with- and distancing the viewer from the
main characters.
A viewer like me wants the characters to be challenging; not
the archetype-figures of absolute perfection we usually see in heroes or even
your average-Joe-main-characters.
And it is this duality per character that each of the actors
play with.
The powers that are.
Bruce Dern has the easiest part in this sense since his
mindset is rather focussed on the task at hand. But Hirsch and his onscreen
daughter Chloe (Lexy Kolker) characters are still struggling with the choices
they have to make.
These two characters, therefore, get the most screen time to
flesh out. But (a smart move by the moviemakers) on different tracks.
First: the character of Chloe is a sweetheart little
princess. Then she turns to a spoiled brat that wants nothing more than her ice
cream. Then, well...let’s not spoil that.
The young actress plays her nicely enough, ticking all the
boxes required from a juvenile lead. But with a character changing her mindset
several times throughout the movie you’ll need an anchor opposite her!
Hirsch’ father-character therefore provides an equally
challenging character journey; yet he doesn’t act it out and tries to keep it
all bottled down. And, as such, keeps the Chloe-character grounded.
The powers that will.
So as a character piece FREAKS is quite interesting. As a
philosophical piece, you’ve probably seen it before, but never as brutal as
this. I guess it is a sign of our times. Just like the late 1970s was the
perfect time to release Soylent Green (1973) maybe nowadays the age old fear of
suppression and discrimination has returned. As I am sure it will return in the
future as well. We’re all human after all.
It’s a shame FREAKS came and went unnoticed. It truly is an
interesting movie that deserves way more attention than it has gotten.
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