Dom «MA »ge

Cinema Wednesdays - Melisa Oriol

Tate Taylor after his sublime masterpiece The color of feelings, award winner, disappoints this time with My, a tasteless horror film.

With an actress like Octavia Spencer, it's hard not to have very high expectations. The latter, who has appeared in numerous films in recent years, from maid to mathematician, once again delivers a breathtaking performance. Her ability to convey strong emotions through her eyes gives real scope to My. His gaze is often emphasized by close-ups, adding power.

Although Sue Ann «Ma» is a self-confessed psychopath, the film nevertheless manages to make us feel empathy for her by showing us a traumatic event from her high school days. Thus, a love-hate relationship gradually develops between the viewer and this poor woman consumed by a thirst for revenge. Unfortunately, Sue Ann is the only character with a truly interesting backstory. The rest of the characters are terrifyingly one-dimensional.

Once again—as we’ve seen a thousand times before—we have a group of slightly rebellious teenagers who take the new girl at school under their wing. She’s relatively shy. She naturally becomes friends with the popular girl, goes out with the «good» boy in the group, and lives with her single mother. It’s a cliché of the clueless American teens from horror movies that we’re starting to get tired of. There’s no attempt here to be original or break the mold.

An Unfinished Screenplay

Despite the blandness of the main characters, the screenplay manages to gradually build tension. Sue Ann «Ma» befriends the teenagers, but things will become increasingly strange and unsettling. The violence of Ma’s actions to keep the teens by her side will escalate, and at times she will even seem bipolar. In short, we’re set up for a horrific and extremely gory ending. And yet, promising plot threads are left unresolved, and the ending is rushed. It’s so quick and simplistic that, unfortunately, it fails to live up to its promise.

At one point, the young people are tortured, although nothing is actually shown on screen. Almost everything is implied. This sequence could have been truly horrific and spectacular, but too many inconsistencies undermine the logic of this final scene. The music tries as best it can to heighten the drama, but Ma’s quest for revenge doesn’t live up to expectations. So it’s with regret that the film’s gradually building tension—which promised us the world—suddenly fizzles out, leaving a bitter aftertaste. It’s disappointing.

Write to the author: melisa-orl@hotmail.com

Photo credit: © Universal Pictures