When Ellen dies, her daughter's family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun a sinister fate they seem to have inherited.
Hereditary is helmed by writer-director Ari Aster, and I was astounded to learn this was a filmmaker's feature debut after seeing Hereditary last night because the exquisite artistry on display. Despite having previously only directed six short films, Aster demonstrates the control of an experienced auteur as he unleashes an unrelenting and unforgiving experience that will plague your mind long after the credits finish rolling.
Where I largely use my reviews to evaluate my subjective enjoyment of a film, that will not be the case here. The reason being is that I didn't particularly "enjoy" Hereditary. I actually didn't know how I felt about it afterwards aside from finding the film to be deeply disturbing on many accounts. While that may be the case, I certainly appreciated the craft behind it. Where some audience members may write it off altogether for the two hours of insanity, I must admit Hereditary was quite effective in regards to accomplishing its objective since my entire audience was perturbed.
With that being said, nothing will prepare you for the unsettling imagery you will bear witness to should you choose to watch Hereditary anytime soon. Its worth mentioning that Hereditary has some strange symbolism fixated on particular types of disembodiment and destruction. Once you see the film, you'll know exactly what I'm referring to as you're liable to pick up on these if you pay close enough attention. Interpreting the symbolic significance is another story altogether.
In regards to scares, Aster brought a brilliant blend of arthouse and mainstream horror that should appeal to indie-cinephiles and general audiences alike. Aster mostly relies on the narrative's unpredictable nature to provide varying forms of shock value, but you'll be in a sense of unrest regardless of the approach. I wouldn't say that I scare easily, but I was unnerved for a large portion of the film's runtime to the extent where it was legitimately difficult for me to sleep last night. If you crave that feelings of fear and anxiety, you'll certainly find them here.
While supernatural forces are fairly prevalent in the horror genre, a scene towards the end verged a little too far in the direction of being a straight-up Satanic ritual, and that made me even more uncomfortable than the uneasiness that had been built up over the course of two hours. While it's totally your prerogative to find this ending acceptable or simply shrug it off, it was too much for me. For those who have seen the film, I'm referring to the last five minutes rather than the whole ordeal shown in the image above. Beyond that, there were moments meant to be intense that wound up being unintentionally hilarious (I'll revisit this) and some dialogue and story elements that just didn't work for me either.
Aside from those nitpicky gripes, I relished in Pawel Pogorzelski's stellar cinematography, found the editing and sound design to be spectacular, and was endlessly unnerved by Colin Stetson's score which steadily encroached with eerie dissonance before accosting your heart rate in the crazy conclusion. One nice touch was how the crew occasionally utilized the miniatures and models spread throughout the house to help tell the story in inventive, unique ways.
As for the acting, there's not really a weak link in the core ensemble. The supporting actors seen throughout are another story, but they're largely irrelevant. However, Toni Collette provides a powerhouse performance as Annie that's easily the best I've seen this year. While I haven't really seen any of the heavy awards contenders yet by nature of release schedules, Collette turns in what I consider to be the first Oscar-worthy performance I've seen all year, and I've got a gut feeling it will stick till the end. Colette not only exhibits a wide range for such a complex character that goes through some unbelievable trauma, but she accomplishes the task with incredible nuances.
The remaining family members Steve, Peter, and Charlie are portrayed with a quiet intensity by Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, and Milly Shapiro respectively. These actors each do a fine job internalizing their character's worries and anxiety amidst the insanity, but Shapiro is well-worth noting because this is her first feature role.
As I've mentioned, Wolff turns in a commendable performance, but some of his scenes involving crying were a little over-the-top to the point where many audience members, including myself, laughed in specific scenes. Otherwise, I really connected to his character because of a major event that came out of nowhere and really affected him. It struck a chord with me largely because I'm also an older brother and can totally understand his thought process afterwards.
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