What Josiah Saw
Sunday April 24th & Saturday April 30th, The Lido, Melbourne
Saturday April 23rd & Wednesday May 4th, 6.20pm, The Ritz, Sydney
On his third feature Vincent Grashaw knocks the ball clean out of the park. It’s the tale of a family imploding, dark secrets seething inexorably to the surface, as three adult siblings grapple with the open wounds of deep trauma, under a dark patriarchal shadow, their mother long gone.
Robert Patrick is Josiah, a booze-addled menace, with a tight rein around his youngest son, the simple-minded, naive Tommy (Scott Haze), who has taken shelter in the family homestead, estranged from his partner and child. Nick Stahl plays Eli, the elder son, living on the outskirts of town in a trailer home, held down by addictions, parole, and the ominous threat of debt, while middle sister Mary (Kelli Garner), is in a fragile marriage, emotionally unhinged, and struggling to relate to those around her. All three are damaged goods, but just where the good lies is difficult to fathom. It will take the lucrative offer of an oil company wanting the land the homestead lies on to bring them together to face their demons.
This is a contemporary Gothic drama lying bedfellows alongside the sharp spine of horror. Superbly directed and edited by Grashaw (he was one of the editors, and an actor, on Evan Glodell’s brilliant Bellflower), working from a fabulously amoral script from Robert Alan Dilts, that crosses genres, as it tells its story in four narrative chapters, one for each of the siblings, and one to wrap them up in hell. The first three chapters are so well defined and unfold with such assurance they could quite easily be feature films in themselves, especially the middle Tarantino-esque narrative that follows Eli and his gypsy quest. Terrific score and cinematography too, this is easily one of my favourite films of the year, a coal-dark and disquieting portrait of ruinous relationships, with a scorpion sting in its tail.
Good Madam
Thursday April 28th & Sunday May 1st, The Lido, Melbourne
Friday April 29th & Sunday May 1st, 6.30pm, The Ritz, Sydney
South African filmmaker Jenna Cato Bass collaborated with screenwriter Babalwa Baartman and the cast to tell a slow-burn tale of supernatural malevolence from within the confines of a wealthy urban estate. It is a story that is heavy with historical relevance, and one that bristles with an elusive nightmarishness that rears its head from time to time, most notably in the film’s finale.
Tsidi (Chumisa Cosa) moves back to her Capetown childhood home with her young daughter Winnie (Kamvalethu Jonas Raziya), into a mansion that is looked after by her mother Mavis (Nosipho Mtebe), who is the caretaker for the Madam (Jennifer Boraine), a rich white woman, now bed-bound and at death’s door. It soon becomes apparent, and is something Tsidi tries to explain to her daughter, that it’s not that she dislikes the house, but that the house does not like her. There are grim memories attached, much of which stem from the lost and lonely memories of the black servants whose gravestones are hidden behind the trees at back of the property. Something dark and mysterious lingers, its tendrils groping out for Tsidi.
A visually striking, unique, and memorable take on the usual haunted house tropes, dealing with the impact of entrenched racism and the long arm of generational ills, Good Madam (Mlungu Wam) is one of those quietly spooky stories that mostly bark (or in this case, growl), yet saves its savage bite for the very end. With solid performances from the cast, it’s one of the most original films of the year.