 Thanks for checking out this movie review video So this is for the 2020 release relic and this is a film that I had on my list because I had heard it thrown around Along with a bunch of other titles for some of the best horror films of 2020 now after watching it I personally don't feel like it was one of the best in my opinion but I would love to hear from people who do think it was one of the best as Usual as I always say I do feel like every single film is worth watching at least once Just to make your own mind up on that film. I have watched this even though. I heard a lot of hype I'm not a big fan of it There are things that I do really like about it and I'll talk about that But there are things that I have huge problems with as well, but I always like to hear other people's opinions Especially on the other side of the fence from what I've decided so please inform me You know, what do you love about this film? Go ahead and put in the comments. So let's get into it Oh, yeah, this is a no spoiler review since it's such a new film But thematically speaking some of the themes. I'll you know end up putting some of that out But also I'll give a quick synopsis after I give you this information It's directed by Natalie Erica James and this is her very first feature So that is one of the biggest things with this film This is her first feature which makes me excited for her as a as a director and writer Not just because I feel excitement for her I mean, that's awesome, but I feel excitement for what she can do in the future if this is her first feature film There could be great things ahead for this individual like they're really really good because this is a wonderful starting point in my opinion especially visually visually it looks really good. She was able to get some big names to work with and well medium big names, but I'll tell you what I mean in a minute But yeah, so the connections are there a lot of the technical skills are there I do have some problems in general But this is the big thing with a first feature film being as good as this is for a initial film There's a lot of room to grow and if you're starting from this film and going up Looking real good in my opinion So this was written by Natalie Erica James and Christian white who this was Christian whites first feature script So good idea there I'll just go ahead and talk about it right now one of my biggest issues because I just talked about writing one of my biggest issues is the Concept of the story and how much time it takes in the film Because in my opinion, this is a wonderful 30 minute film. This could be an amazing 30 minute film But it's an hour and a half film basically There is not enough story here. There is not enough Atmosphere created an interest and jump scares and Anything to really keep you engaged for an hour and a half and that's my biggest problem with this for that reason I think there's a problem with the writing. I think there's a problem with the editing now This might not be the fault of James or white because they may be told by the industry Hey, you have to hit a certain runtime, which I think is totally ridiculous It's one of my rants actually put a video up on my channel about how I think Movie runtimes are terrible and this film is a prime example of how it can kill a movie At least from my perspective, like I said, some people love how this played out But I felt like there was a lot of wasted time just to kind of pad that runtime And like I said, this could be an amazing 30 minute film And some films just can't have a feature length in my opinion and still have the same impact I'll talk a little bit more about it later because I'm you know, I can't let this go But let me get to some other stuff This is actually an Australian film that was released by IFC and I think one of the reasons it got even more attention Then I think it really should have is because Jake Gyllenhaal was a producer on it And when you have Jake Gyllenhaal as a producer you have some extra connections So yeah, I don't know how the you know, they connected how how he found her she found him, but I Don't know but I mean that's great for to have that connection So quick synopsis of this one It's basically about a mother and her daughter who go to a secluded home that is the grandmother's home and They're looking for her because she just basically disappeared one day She appears to have dementia now when they get there There's some conflicting information about you know, is there actually something else going on here or is this just a dementia situation? There you go That's as much as I'm gonna say because if you do want to watch it watch it because like I said Reiterate every film is worth watching at least once if for nothing then to just figure out how you personally feel about it So the film starts off being pretty quiet, which I really really dig the the The score in general is very subdued and I'm always a really big fan of when the score is really subdued I think that's kind of like the way film are well done film has started to move Over the past bunch of years and that's the way it should be because like over the top score It just beats you over the head as an audience member I don't like it I feel like it's leading you by the hand way too much and I'd much rather Be able to like take in the sound design really feel the ambiance the atmosphere of what's going on and be able to Sort through my own emotions and thoughts while the film is going on So this does that well, especially in the beginning and is very subdued So I that's a big one. It's on Sorry, it's an eerie beginning that could be pointing to a few different things The way it sets up you kind of see a few different paths that the film could take Although I would argue that it doesn't take any of the interesting paths in my opinion Until you get to the very end and you're like, oh, you know, this is actually a pretty solid ending But I feel like the track wasn't laid to get there in a good manner You lost me along the way basically at least that's how I felt It strikes me that a lot of films like to start with drone shots of woods or a car driving This one does that a few times not too many times It's just a thought that occurred to me that I wanted to throw out there that that's become a thing in film Now where it's like, oh, they're going to a secluded house or they're going to the woods or they're going to this You know, they're driving a distance. So let's have a drone shot from above following the car I wonder if the popularity that really started with the shining Kubrick's the shining because I knew it was helicopter shot of The car going up the hills. I mean, it still looks amazing. But anyway, just an observation There are woods and they shoot them in very imposing ways at times, which I really like that And this kind of speaks to that technical Aspect being really good the visuals are really nice Like you can tell good directing really good cinematography to this So it looks very visually appealing now one of the things is with the trees They kind of at times they'll like shoot them from like a downward angle My god, sorry a downward angle looking up So the trees look really big and really imposing and really intimidating But then there was also a shot where it kind of shoots right through the forest So you're just seeing how dense it is which kind of gives you this kind of confusing feeling of yeah It could be really easy. It could be easy to get lost there And you know also You're secluded and then also kind of the shot from above with the drone that shows how dense the forest is Showing, you know, how secluded things are showing how if you just wander out into the woods like this grandmother did You could easily get lost, especially if you're not all there Which we don't know in the film if that's what's going on or not Until you get further on and then you figure things out, but i'm not going to tell you that Just saying There's a good ambiguous feeling for what's going on the idea of is this dementia or is this something else? I do like that kind of ambiguity that's ended up being played with because They do maintain it for quite a while in the film now I say that I like that aspect of it, but I don't think that they Did as good of a job as they could have in maintaining that along with maintaining some sort of tension Or some sort of like wonderful creepy atmosphere All they did really for atmosphere was it's dark the whole time You know, it's a dark house. It's an old house. It looks like it's kind of falling apart in places You know, like that's not enough you need to kind of lay a few things out along the journey along the hour To get to the more interesting part that kind of grabs people's interest from time to time now and I see some areas where they tried to do some of that But it just wasn't enough. It was too subdued in my opinion Now I do have a theory on why a lot of that was kind of more subdued and I think it really does have Have to do with playing into the ambiguity aspect of things Because I feel like they felt that if you would go a little further if you would do a little bit more be a little more extreme That it would have tipped the hat a little too much as to what's going on here um Or what's potentially going on here and I think they just wanted people to really feel kind of in the middle of the road until the very end So that's just my theory on it, but I didn't like it It feels insanely slow and it gives me the idea that some runtime padding was at play here And yes very much so I guarantee there was The runtime was padded with this film because it gets pretty close to an hour and a half And there is not enough story not enough character interest not enough atmosphere not enough jump scares Not enough anything to to keep your interest all the way for that Hour and a half which sucks because really for a lot of films an hour and a half is no big deal Like not a big deal, but I think this kind of speaks to this is a great idea And they had a great idea for the ending But it's like everything from the between the beginning and the last like half hour I'd say probably like the first First 15 to 20 minutes and then the last half hour basically That's what's good everything in between that It's it feels like it's almost all filler to be honest and that's bad. That's that's bad You don't want that The characters oftentimes kind of mumble which makes it very hard to stay engaged with the film I don't know if this was an intentional choice. I don't know if it was unintentional, but They tend like their voice fluctuation goes up and down a lot and sometimes it's very easy to hear them They're speaking very clearly at other times. They're really mumbling and their voice is really low And it's just I don't want to have to like I'm sorry like lean forward or lean back at different parts of the film based off Trying to hear someone speak or have to consistently be putting the volume up putting the volume down I don't want that make sure that when you finish the film You can hear everyone you can hear the lines of dialogue. So that's another thing that really bothered me About 35 minutes in I thought we were about to get somewhere But all I got was a cheap jump scare. That's another thing. There are some jump scares in this and I will say They got me a little bit with two of the jump scares So those were pretty solid, but there are other ones that I was just like Like I don't think anyone jumped at that like They're supposed to be these moments that are either You might get it as a jump scare or you're just supposed to be like, oh, no But I felt like they came off as just way too tame for what was really going on here and It just I just felt like they needed to go for it more like they really needed to go for it more on this The acting is good Yeah, quite quite good acting and the relationships really do feel realistic amongst all the characters Which is extremely important for what the subject matter of this film is So for that reason, there is some well written dialogue that helps establish those relationships and keep those relationships feeling realistic But also there's a lot that goes to the acting as well for that and like I said, very good acting But the problem is how the characters are written. They're all kind of flat They they don't feel like they have a whole lot of dimension to them. You don't feel like you know a whole lot about them It really does feel like they're just Not real characters that that are just there For this one purpose in essence I don't know and there's so much wasted time Within the film that I feel like they could have used that to kind of develop these people a little bit more Edeer you to them a little bit more. It does really feel like by the end of the film that they were just kind of relying on people's personal experiences maybe connecting to what's going on or Just I'm a human they're humans as well and I can see that that would you know be tough to go through, you know And it's just from a film standpoint for me personally. It's not enough. It's not enough to keep me engaged or for me to like it There are a bunch of parts that are in the dark and not lit enough So I really couldn't see what was going on. This is another one of my pet peeves If you're shooting things in the dark and this film is dark a lot Uh, make sure you can see make sure your audience can see what's going on. There were a lot of instances Later on in the film where you're like straining and you're like, I think I see something going on Which is fine if that's the case if you're then gonna like hit someone with the jump scare or if they're gonna see What's going on later? But that didn't happen is you just get like a little something you're like, I think I saw something I don't know and then it never comes back around and you're just like Why let me see you have the lighting. Let's do this About about an hour in things really do pick up But at this point I felt like it was a little bit tough to pull me back in Because I was starting to really disengage from the film because of how slow and boring it had become I literally felt like it was just treading water until it hit about that hour mark and then it's like Okay, we we're we're at where we need to be with our runtime. Let's start the story again. I'm like, no no There's a good solid metaphor in the very end But much like with a lot of the film it's drawn out too long in my opinion I think being more brief being edited down a bit more would have had more impact because With a lot of things when you hit someone with something That's supposed to be like a big aha moment or it's supposed to be very intellectually engaging or it's supposed to be very emotional Or any of that type of stuff in the end of the film You Can be on it too long to a point where people just start to See it too much and then it just starts to be Overbearing not in the sense of like, oh my gosh, it's too much to handle But overbearing in the sense of like I get the point Yes, you already said this to me It feels like you're telling me the same sentence over and over and over again I heard you and then that's kind of what this ends up feeling like to me with how drawn out the end is But like I said, it's a good ending. It just need to be edited down And I see where they were going. I see where the the seed of the idea of this film started It's just the way it ended up being fleshed out Didn't come to fruition for me personally One of the final things in the film felt very inspired by the a24 film under the skin Just say that much and I would be surprised if it wasn't just saying This film really needed to create better atmosphere and create some real tension early on. That's another thing It just felt very kind of meandering and blah Those two things could have helped to make up for the slow runtime I've definitely seen films that are slow, but they they give you a wonderful atmosphere that just maintains throughout throughout it So you're still engaged. You're still kind of on edge and this film could have done that, but they didn't do it This is an excellent 30 minute film, but its runtime is an hour and a half It's like having a great drink But wanting it to last a lot longer. So you add a bunch of water to it Now you're able to drink it longer, but it doesn't taste very good anymore That's my best analogy for how this film feels to me. There's a great story there But when they started to stretch it out from about a half an hour to an hour and a half They watered it down so much that it just did it wasn't as good And in that more concentrated like half hour form. It could have been outstanding Just saying this is the problem with the film industry feeling like they have to hit certain run times I think it's such an antiquated way of thinking and I think it hinders film more than anything The film takes aim at the modern societal tendency for families to let their elders fade away as they pay attention to them less and less But how eventually you have to deal with their deterioration And it ends up being a very hellish journey Now I do feel like this is something that a lot of people can end up connecting with in the end So maybe it does work out for people where you know, maybe they have some sort of similar Things happening in their life that that they're able to connect with that and that's enough for them. I could see that for sure Not for me though personally and I I personally just need it more And that's why I would love to hear from people who were like man relic was so good It was one of the best films of 2020 go ahead and put the comments down there. I'm open to it And maybe it'll make me rethink something, you know, maybe I miss something with it I mean, I'm pretty sure I see what the idea was behind it and it's a wonderful idea It's a great idea and there are aspects of it like I've been saying that we're executed really well There's just a lot that need to work In my opinion, so but like I said, I'm very interested to see where the filmmaker goes from this James she she could be up and up and out That doesn't make sense Going upward in a good way But anyway, I really do thank everyone for checking this out Like I said put your comments down there about this film Star rating for this I thought about going more harsh, but There is a lot of good stuff here and I do know that a lot of people really like it So out of five stars with half stars in play. I'm giving it two stars Because I got to put it below the in the middle because I'm not in the middle on it I thought about going one and a half stars because of the The runtime issue and how slow it is But now there's enough technical stuff. That's really good that two star rating on this one But like I said, thanks for watching this hit that subscribe button for me If you can and you certainly can it literally takes you a second It is 100 percent painless and it costs you nothing and it motivates me to keep doing review videos So please do that for me also hit the notification bell button because that way you'll know whenever I'm putting up new videos I'm usually doing about three to four on a normal week I'm doing four videos two Two spoiler movie reviews one spoiler free movie review And then one kind of either opinion video or like a haul video or something like that But regardless, I do appreciate you taking your time to watch this and until next time keep it brutal