Two terrific performances anchor this taut, contained thriller which can little question provoke robust reactions as soon as it comes out.
PLOT: Two mother and father (Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys) obtain a panicked telephone name from their college-age daughter, who’s simply hit and killed somebody whereas intoxicated on a distant street. The 2 rush to her whereas grappling with the choice about the best way to deal with a scenario that may doubtless land her in jail and wreck her life.
REVIEW: How far would you go to guard your kids? That’s the query Babak Anvari’s (Below the Shadow) Hallow Highway asks. Whereas it’s a well-recognized one, what makes Hallow Highway distinctive is that the mother and father on this film aren’t essentially racing to avoid wasting their kids from an exterior pressure however quite from a lethal calamity of their very own making.
Working a taut eighty minutes, Hallow Highway takes place principally in a automotive, as Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys race the clock to drive out to the distant street of the title to avoid wasting their daughter, Alice (Megan McDonnell), who’s simply made the most important mistake of her life, recent off of getting a large blow-out together with her people. What’s distinctive in regards to the film is how flawed everyone seems to be, with Alice no pure-hearted sufferer, as she’s keen to do what she has to keep away from paying the implications of her personal actions.
After all, one thing occurs about midway by way of the movie, which brings it extra consistent with Anvari’s different, extra genre-based movies, when it turns into one thing of a morality story/ fable in regards to the protecting gene baked into mother and father, which provokes them to do amoral issues to avoid wasting their kids. It asks you to think about the truth that, by consistently defending kids from the implications of their very own actions, you wind up with youngsters who, at the same time as adults, nonetheless depend on their mother and father for every part and have little to no scruples of their very own.
It’s a terrifically paced two-hander, with Pike and Rhys excellent of their roles. Of the 2, Pike is enjoying the marginally extra conscientious father or mother, being a burnt-out paramedic who has some empathy for Alice’s sufferer. Against this, Rhys’s character is solely centered on getting their daughter out of hazard; penalties to himself (or anybody else) be damned.
But, the film additionally doesn’t decide both of the mother and father, permitting you to make up your personal thoughts about their actions. Pike and Rhys are two of the most effective within the biz, and all through the scant working time, they provide a masterclass in performing, with this one of many best-contained thrillers in current reminiscence.
Nevertheless, the extra genre-based twist appears susceptible to divide audiences a bit. Whereas I used to be watching it, I wasn’t certain it completely labored, however a mid-credits Easter egg modified my opinion as I walked out of the screening. Because it ended, it’s a film that I’ve been chewing on, having made an even bigger impression on me than I initially thought.
Anvari does a wonderful job maintaining the movie visually fascinating regardless of the contained nature of the movie. One actually cool addition to the movie is the rating by Lorne Balfe and Peter Adams, which uniquely makes use of a symphonic rendition of the Depeche Mode basic “Behind the Wheel” because the film’s predominant theme. As a serious DM fan, I discovered this facet scrumptious.
It’ll be fascinating to see how style followers react to Hallow Highway when it comes out. Whereas it’s circuitously labeled as a supernatural thriller, there are components of that at play right here, they usually work fairly effectively. The film virtually felt like a feature-length model of a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode, albeit performed with plenty of model. It’s the sort of morality story a man like Rod Serling would have appreciated.
