Experimentation and tasty little bites of ferocious suburban horror provide gasps of fresh air amidst a film that stumbles over its own story, meaning that Dekkers vision is certainly thrilling just haplessly plotted about. Dekker uses the kitchen sink approach withJack Goes Home, throwing as many tropes and other genre devices into the mix and sees what works. Fiction. The films genre hopping and preposterous plotting might not be so bad if Dekker seemed like he was having more fun directing it all. Ultimately, it feels like Dekker has reverse-engineered Jack from all the sundry plot twists, dream sequences, and one-liners he wanted to include. There isnt a lot of motivation for many of the things that characters do, and while a third act twist does explain the reasoning for this, its too little, too late. But while the movies artfully made and daringly disturbing, Dekker ultimately overestimates how many sick twists one motion picture needs. His eyes alone convey the dead glassiness of overburdened hypnosis, brought upon by realitys tightening grip. Culkins talents are widely abused by Dekkers constantly-shifting struggle, arguablytowards the lead actors benefit. Thatswho Jack is, for better or worse. NEWS: The Countdown to Christmas Begins! People cope in infinite ways, and Dekkers appropriation of Jack is meant to show mans ability to teeterat wits end a brutal inner tumble that continually drags us down to deeper depths. Plot. There were 13 other movies released on the same date, including Desierto, Max Steel and The Accountant. Jared Mobarak is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic for The Film Stage, Art Director for Buffalo, NY film series Cultivate Cinema Circle, and member of OFCS and GWNYFCA. The story itself is one of loss and homecoming, hinged on a characters wading through pools of emotional unrest. Then we meet his mother, Teresa ( Lin Shaye ), who survived the fatal crash that killed his dad, and realize how similar her . Get our L.A. I am one man, with on 2010 Creepercast All Rights Reserved. The film premiered at the South by Southwest international film festival and was theatrically released on October 14, 2016. Jack Goes Home hits limited release and VOD Friday, October 14. Also, some of thecharacters reactions to the tragic events that are happening all around them come off as fake. Jack is a troubled character with a sharp, cynical wit and a tortured soul. One mans pretension is often anothers profundity, after all. Experimentation and tasty little bites of ferocious suburban horror provide gasps of fresh air amidst a film that stumbles over its own story, meaning that Dekkers vision is certainly thrilling just haplessly plotted about. Fiction. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman, Ghostface Has Been Randomly Appearing in Streets Across the Country [Images], Vinegar Syndromes March Releases Include Freeway II Starring Natasha Lyonne on 4K Ultra HD. Jack is at first unfazed by the tragedy: We live, we drive, we crash, we die, he blankly tells his girlfriend, Cleo (Britt Robertson). Teresa approaches each day with a certain calmness, while Jack turns tobest friendShanda (Daveigh Chase) for support before stumbling down a rabbit hole he may never leap out of. Revenge, grief and piercingsecrets make Jack Goes Home quite the interesting genre hybrid, butThomas Dekkers disparaging darkness might rely a bit too heavily on haunted aesthetics. Culkin is hypnotizing as the fragile, but biting protagonist, solidifying himself as a unique genre talent that commands attention in such emotionally engrossing roles. The case seems open and shut when . While sorting out his fathers affairs and attempting to dodgehis mothers mood swings, Jack begins to discover that perhaps his familyhas been hiding some very darksecrets. Please check Fandango and Atom Tickets to see if the film is playing in your area. His dad is dead after being nearly decapitated in an auto wreck, and the way he deals with the news is bizarre. Both Jacks parents were involved in a devastating car accident, leaving his father dead and mother Teresa (Lin Shaye)widowed. Thomas Dekkers (John Carpenters Village of the Damned) second directorial debut, titled Jack Goes Home, a slightly flawed, but suspenseful slow burn, that builds to a conclusion that will leave you wanting to watch the movie one more time. A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated fiction and documentary films of the coming year. Upon hearing the news, Jack promptly heads home to be there for the funeral and to be a support system for his mother, Teresa. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include FRESH, Hereditary, Mandy, Relic, Assassination Nation, and The Babadook. But with these subtler inferences on the cyclical nature of life and nightmare come random oddities for shock value rather than clarity. Jack Goes Home deserves credit for balancing so many plates, until they all come crashing down in a chorus of sinful smashes. Project: Nightlight Has Delayed March 3 Release, New Beta Early Access Gameplay Trailer Gives Diablo IV Fans a Taste of Hell [Video]. In its better moments, like the scenes that pit Jack against his mother in increasingly hysterical confrontations, Jack Goes Home suggests the fever-pitched outlandishness of 1970s horror films like Alice, Sweet Alice and The Baby, but more often Dekker resorts to talky, rhythm-less dialogue scenes filmed in bland, undifferentiated close-ups. Cast: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. There, he uncovers long-buried secrets and lies within his family history, his parents, his friends and his very identity.Anonymous Uploaded by: FREEMAN April 29, 2018 at 04:50 PM Director If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. This is one worth checking out. A still from My Animal by Jacqueline Castel, an official selection of the Midnight section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. DAY ONE. This may be the intent since it is supposed to be a journey into the mind of a mentally disturbed man, but it doesnt feel intentional and the film grows tedious quickly. Jack (Rory Culkin) receives terrible news that his father has passed away in a car accident and only his mother (Lin Shaye in a scene-stealing performance) has survived. What is real and what is not becomes harder and harder to differentiate. His mother reacts violently when he addresses that she doesnt seem to be affected by the loss, and soon his world begins to unravel as secrets are revealed. Where we let the fear creep in with all things horror genre. Unraveling those mysteries is what this film does best, as each revelation causes the hero to question everything hes believed about his life. As Jack discoversVHS tapes andcassettes left behind by his late father, Dekkersvisuals grow more nightmarish and almost suffocatingly dismal; this palette will no doubt further serve to disconcert audiences already on the fence. That being said, understanding that Dekker wrote the film about his depression following his fathers death in 2010 helps to put the film in a better context: this is Dekkers depressed state of mind represented on film. Dekkers combination of Eugene ONeil and The Shining ultimately proves too unwieldy, especially when the secrets start raining down hard in the final half-hour. Available online. However, there are a few issues here and there. Jack Goes Home is a film about a young man who returns to his roots after his father dies in a horrible car accident. Most horror films begin where this one ends, focusing on a monster unleashed after unwittingly spending decades trapped inside his mind. Brittle reveals crumble at the cusp of understanding, meant to rattle instead of satisfy the whole style over substance clich rearing its head once again. / jack goes home explained spoiler. Jack is an educated and well versed magazine editor living in Los Angeles. Ill have to check it out. Though uneven at times, the filmgreatlybenefits from such aunique and emotionally enveloping approach, at least for this reviewer. Maybe this was intendedto separate fact from fiction or the product of rushing to deliver that a-ha moment. He has a nightmare in which he sees Jack getting angry at Cory and lashing out. Fiction. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. By Brian D. Renner Sep. 27, 2016. J.P.: Editor (EIC - Editor in Cheif), Writer (CC - Content Contributor); Fiction. Luckily, Culkins crazed performance saves a lot of the shakier moments with his emotional distress. Thomas Dekkers Jack Goes Home opens on a shot of Jack (Rory Culkin) staring directly into the camera as he solemnly intones a ponderous poem filled with lines like Shattered pieces of elusive memory steeped in pixelated streaks and auto-tracked frames. When his poem is interrupted by a co-worker for a bit of office banter, we learn that Jack is one of those pedantic assholes who enjoys picking semantic arguments with people over their use of words like bro. This is a singularly unappealing introduction to a character whose psychological terrain will be the films primary subject, establishing him as pretentious, off-putting, and not nearly as clever as he thinks he is. This is a mind reconciling past and present through a filter of hurt, his potential future a beacon of light extinguished, with his homecoming possessing much more than he bargained for. This is the snap people talk about: that indefinable moment where the person you couldnt fathom doing anything heinous transforms into a killer without rhyme or reason. All the labels that In Poor Taste covers. Jack Thurlowe's world is turned upside down when his beloved father is killed in a brutal car accident. Visually, Jack Goes Homeis shrouded in an unshakable sense of melancholy, which helps its cause as a subversively bleak and often experimental horror film. Jack Goes Homecomes to us courtesy of actor Thomas Dekker, who wrote the film 10 months ago over the course of three weeks. Twisted nightmare visions. Rory Culkin entices as Thomas Dekkers corrupted hero, even if reality distortion never leads anywhere dynamic. World Premiere. But it quickly becomes clear that his cold exterior is masking a fractured psychology wracked by grief. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include A Love Song, RIOTSVILLE, USA, The Infiltrators, Searching, Skate Kitchen, A Ghost Story, and Tangerine. Suddenly hes thrust back into a volatile situation where his only solace becomes the memory of childhood love corroborated by mysterious cassette tapes left behind by his father. Theres a lot of mirroring, from blatant similarities between new neighbor Duncan (Louis Hunter) and an as yet unknown figure of the past, to Jacks impending fatherhoods hopes and fears aligning with his dads at the time of his own birth. Some of what Dekker throws at us helps in his gradual psychotic break, but a lot works towards distracting us from him as well as setting up a climax that proves more forced than revelatory without ever letting Shanda question peculiarities in view of the audience. Were let into Jacks mind, never able to differentiate between whats happening on Earthor filling the ether. This movie works well within the mystery and horror genre. Jack Goes Home is a bold movefor Dekker and you have to admire the sheer ambition of the project. The horrors of night are washed away by each days sunshine, while the demons swirling around Jacks head are never restrained enough to follow. Cast: Sophie Wilde, Miranda Otto, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Zoe Terakes, Otis Dhanji. Jack heads home for the funeral, but when it gets there, he sees that his mother is not doing too well. After his father is killed in a car crash, Jack (Rory Culkin) travels home to Colorado to help nurse his drug addicted mother (who was also injured in the crash) back to health. Fede Alvarezs Alien Movie Fills Out Cast With Four More Fresh Faces, Eli Roths Thanksgiving Cast Adds Milo Manheim, Scream Why Wes Cravens Classic Is Still the Perfect Scary Movie for Horror Newcomers, Nosferatu Aaron Taylor-Johnson Joins the Cast of Robert Eggers Remake, Hellboy: The Crooked Man Adeline Rudolph and Jefferson White Join the Reboot, Poltergeist Amazon Reportedly Looking to Revive the Franchise, Agent Elvis Trailer Elvis Gets Bloody in Netflixs Adult Animated Series on March 17th, From Season 2 Teaser Trailer Critically Acclaimed Series Returns to MGM+ in April. Dekker attempts to provide an explanation for Jacks inconsistencies in the form of a ludicrous final plot twist, but even that cant make sense out of the mess thats preceded it. As it is rife with ambiguity and heavy with symbolism, Jack Goes Home is much more arthouse than traditional thriller or drama if you had to label it, though that is not necessarily a bad thing. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Andrew Bowser, Producers: Clark Baker, Michael Mobley, Olivia Taylor Dudley) Onyx joins a group of fellow occultists to attend a dark ritual at the mansion of their idol, Bartok. Upfront, Jack Goes Home is a significantlycontemplative work. The tone shifts when Jack finds a message from his late father, containing a clue that leads him on a soul-shattering scavenger hunt.
Marlon Brando Weight At Death,
6 Pillars Of Lvmh Business Model,
Articles J