Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Martha Marcy May Marlene: Directed by Sean Durkin. With Elizabeth Olsen, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy. Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

“Iu0026#39;m tempted to give Martha Marcy May Marlene a higher rating than it deserves for what it could have been, not for what it is. It boasts two young talents who are showing tons of potential – director Sean Durkin and lead actress Elizabeth Olsen; Olsenu0026#39;s performance is subtle and effective, and Durkinu0026#39;s directorial work creates a strong sense of atmosphere, which is aided by the superb cinematography of Jody Lee Lipes (who also had very little prior experience in feature length films). Itu0026#39;s a film that looks and sounds great, but unfortunately it doesnu0026#39;t mesh into a satisfying experience.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s probably because thereu0026#39;s so much potential and so much to explore, and so little of it is actually brought to fruition, that I left the film with a bitter taste of a missed opportunity. The cult, for example, is fascinating, seductive and nightmarish, and John Hawkes delivers outstandingly, but on closer inspection it looks like a perfectly generic hippie cult of the classic Manson prototype, and we get no hints of what their philosophy actually is, or about the personalities of any of the members. The same goes for the relationship between Martha, her sister and her brother in law, and most of all the ending, which suggests some very interesting subjects which the rest of the movie doesnu0026#39;t really explore.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo be clear: I donu0026#39;t object to open endings or films that leave a lot of information out to allow viewer interpretation, but in this case I felt it was done as a cover up for lack of decision on Durkinu0026#39;s part – a flawed script that doesnu0026#39;t really feel complete. Iu0026#39;ll definitely check out his work in the future, but this film isnu0026#39;t quite there yet.”