Above and Below the Surface

There are a couple of movies I've seen - only a couple that come to mind - with a very specific issue
that makes them not work for me.

It's when the THEME or below-the-surface meaning of the story holds together but the actual plot suffers for it.

Spoiler for The Babadook

The Babadook is an excellent horror movie for the most part. The lead character does a phenomenal, believable job as the haunted widow and mother who's coming unglued. The creature that is haunting/stalking them is mysterious and the glimpses or hints we get about it are very scary - I think think of the "Babadook pop-up book" scene and how terrifying it was to me, in anticipation of what might be coming.

Certain thematic meanings or 'side-themes' make the whole thing feel very realistic too - for example, a lonely adult stuck with a child, especially a troubled child has feelings of extreme isolation and hardship, even though she loves the kid.

But in the end, the story (for me at least) abandons the literal plot in favor of serving the metaphor. The Babadook is a symbol for grief, and the solution makes sense on a symbolic level. On a literal level, though, it wasn't cool at all. As a spirit/monster haunting and stalking these people…the ending on a surface/plot level was just…nothing.

The movie "Us" was similar. The trailers were terrifying, and the episode of the original Twilight Zone ("Mirror Image") that seemed to be the inspiration behind it - that old episode was very cool and unsettling. The idea of doppelgangers is one of the creepiest horror concept to me.

But the film seemed more about its themes. In the end, as we learn what's going on, the sheer impossibility of the whole "conspiracy" took me out of the movie completely (despite the amazing Lupita Nyong'o as the lead actor. She was outstanding).

Cripes…there's another one I saw recently that made me want to do this topic, but the thing has left my dissolving brain. Don't remember what it was. Oh, I remember - The Truman Show with Jim Carrey. Cool concept, like "Us", and making a worthwhile point, maybe, but the reality of the story makes no sense at all.

Hey, if people are liking it, what do I care? But it's something that crossed my mind, and I had a Newspost to make!

It's been a fairly rare problem in movies I think, but it's an interestingly specific one. Not something I've seen anyone else bring up but it takes me right out of a story.

Of course, sometimes unanswered questions are good, and sometimes even confusion about what's going on is good. Sometimes chaotic meaninglessness can actually work -

but those are topics for next week.


-Banes