Martha Marcy May Marlene

[kevinknapman]

Surprised there wasn't a thread for this already.
Anyway, I went to a preview of this at the new Everyman Maida Vale cinema. It was actually the 2nd time I've seen this having been at a London Film Festival screening.
Here's my review from that:

For a feature debut it's incredibly assured and confident. The direction was interesting and the way in which they went between the two different time frames was often inspired and consistently inventive. Sometimes quite clear, at other times disorientating. It seemed the perfect way of visualising Martha's difficulty in getting used to life outside of the commune. It's not often you feel the need to highlight the editing in a film but it really was quite brilliant here. Excellent use of available light at times too which gave a lot of scenes an oppressive and unsettling feel. Plus the contrast between the earthy and dilapidated commune and the sterile, oddly oppressive lakehouse was effective in maintaining the unnerving atmosphere throughout.
The acting is superb. Elizabeth Olsen is bound to be nominated for all sorts of awards with a stunning performance and John Hawkes is reliably excellent as the cult leader.
Yes the ending is a bit sudden and abrupt but, as the director put it afterwards, it ends in the same way the film begins, at a transistion in Martha's life. In retrospect it seems a fitting place to finish.
Overall I thought it was a distinct, intense and unsettling film and look forward to whatever director Sean Durkin does next.

Wasn't sure if a 2nd viewing would stand up but I found it just as compelling. Elizabeth Olsen performance even more impressive on another viewing. The editing (both visual and sound) still blows me away. Would happily sit through it again.

As for the new cinema, it was quite nice. Not a big fan of sofas in cinemas (maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist) but the seating is a lot better than that in the Everyman Hampstead.

[ejwrank]

It's mentioned under London Film Festival 2011. I think only a couple of us saw it then.


http://fmuk.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php? ... ha#p161194

[kevinknapman]

I know. My review is taken directly from it. I was just surprised it didn't have a page of it's own, considering there were a few FMUKers at the screening last night.

[dovetail]

Arrived early at the Everyman screening to find work men busy putting finishing touches to the place! The manager shoo'd them out as the guests started arriving. V charming cinema, intimate and cosy with two screens. We liked the comfy two seaters, tables, footrests and waiter service.

Film was absorbing with two stories running in parallel - Martha's escape from a cult to live with her sister, Lucy and her husband Ted at their holiday house by a lake and the flashbacks of her two years with her "family" in the cult and the contrast between the two lives. The audience sees the reasons for Martha's increasingly bizarre behaviour but by contrast, Martha refuses to confide in Lucy and Max and their frustration with her ramps up the tension. The film is not easy to watch -

[spoiler]The scene where she is raped and then accepts and rejoices in her "first time" with the creep cult leader and later complicity in grooming another girl for abuse is very well done and deeply disturbing.[/spoiler]

I didn't like abrupt ambiguous ending - which seems to be a trend in movies these days - [spoiler]Were the cult members coming for her at this point?[/spoiler].

But other than that, it was a thoughtful, atmospheric film and a great performance from Elizabeth Oleson.

8/10 for the film and 9/10 for the cinema especially the manager who invited my friend and I to watch the next screening which followed on! It was WE, Madonna's film of Wallis Simpson. Didn't stay for it as we were too tired - but nice of him to offer.

[EthanRunt]

Saw it during the long prelude to the LFF, and maybe I was just too tired, but I hated the film. The story was dull, the characters awful, the pace painful, for all the good will that surrounds it, the film didn't work to me, and I'm frankly shocked at the massive awards responses to it, and especially Olsen who is hardly the stand-out, she's just an adequate performer for the role.

[Celini]

I liked the structure of the movie as well as the cinematography and I found the young Olsen pretty good for a first time on silver screen!
But this is definitely not my favourite drama of the year; I thought something was missing. The story is interesting but highly forgettable for me.
6/10

as for the new Everyman Maida Vale, I liked the venue and their screen 2 (I haven't had a look at the smaller screen 1) but I am really not sure about all the eating/drinking stuff in the room.
Waiters getting in and out of the room for the first half an hour of the movie is highly distracting; even more annoying when it's your neighbour that ordered a pizza and you have to pass it along!!!
The worst was actually when the said (clumsy) neighbour spilled her entire glass of red wine on me in the first minute of the movie... f**k, really!
Thankfully I was wearing black clothes and I was only smelling like an alcoholic on my way home rather than looking like one!
If people want to have diner and drink alcohol in front of a movie, they should do so at home! Fact!

[jeanelle]

I found this very slow going with not much dialogue so you had to keep your eyes on the screen the whole time or you missed something. Having said that the cult was suitably creepy and the whole thing tied together, I actually liked the ending and it gave my friend and me lots to discuss on the way home.

We liked the new cinema, sofas and footrests were comfy but it was freezing cold as they hadn't sorted out the AC (and apologised for this at the start). We were early and got free popcorn which reinforced my dislike of this snack. It was lovely that they all seemed so proud of their new place though.

[kevinknapman]

When I went to the Everyman Hampstead for The Ides of March I was approached by a member of staff as I entered the screen and was asked if I wanted to see the menu. They even had electronic tills either side of the screen. Totally freaked me out. Felt very uncomfortable from then on. I understand the need for independent cinema chains to deliver a different experience from multiplexes but sometimes I want a cinema to just be a cinema.

[Beate]

Sniff. I have such fond memories of that little cinema back home in Germany that doubled as a bar where you could order toast hawaii, a small pizza or ice cream to eat during the movie. I loved it. You had a small lamp in built in the table so you could see the food and I used to go there a lot. I am not sure it still exists. Sigh, those were the times. It might actually annoy me now to have people around me eating, and having to wait for the waitress to cash up after the film, but back then it was the height of sophistication.

[Beate]

Saw it during the long prelude to the LFF, and maybe I was just too tired, but I hated the film. The story was dull, the characters awful, the pace painful, for all the good will that surrounds it, the film didn't work to me, and I'm frankly shocked at the massive awards responses to it, and especially Olsen who is hardly the stand-out, she's just an adequate performer for the role.

I thought it was pretentious arthouse crap as well but I think I stand almost alone in this. I can acknowledge Elizabeth Olsen's performance but on a whole the film was painfully boring, and I was glad when it was over.