Jason says: “What is
a ghost? Potentially anything a writer wants, but probably the
strongest way to use this particular bit of supernatural lore is as the
past personified, with the question being how that can affect the
living and the present. Writer/director Axelle Carolyn zeroes in on
that idea with SOULMATE, and playing it out makes for an interesting
story.
“It’s one that starts with a suicide attempt, a young musician who has
been recently been widowed. When next we see Audrey (Anna Walton), she
is renting an old house some miles away from any neighbors in Wales,
complete with a room that caretaker Theresa Zellaby (Tanya Myers) and
her husband (Nick Brimble) say cannot be opened. So those noises Audrey
thinks she’s hearing would seem to be coming from somewhere else – at
least, until she finds Douglas (Tom Wisdom) in the sitting room.
“It’s a while before Douglas makes his first appearances, giving the
viewer some time to get familiar with Audrey, and Carolyn and actress
Anna Walton handle that introduction well. Without many words devoted
to explaining herself, they show her sadness and difficulty in knowing
just what to do next, and often the way she goes about trying to
minimize the bandages on her wrists or seems stymied trying to arrange
some music is just as telling as her doing it. Even more impressively,
there is at least a hint of something other than depression from the
start, so that the process of her possibly emerging from her shell as
the film goes on feels quite genuine.
“Tom Wisdom does something similar, if compacted; it’s a while before
Douglas turns up, although his first appearance is nicely jarring.
Wisdom then manages to make the man unnerving without necessarily
feeling threatening, which is important, since the rapport that
develops between Audrey and Douglas needs to feel a little bit odd even
when there aren’t obvious visual or conversational reminders that
theirs is an unusual relationship. At the same time, it can’t be
constantly setting off alarms, either. It’s a unique chemistry they
manage, seeming to come back to life together.
“It’s a simple premise, and I like how Carolyn doesn’t do too much to
complicate it. She mostly builds up backstory in plain sight, rather
than out of comments whose true import will only be recognized later.
That Audrey did something horribly rash at the start never had to be
even an implied excuse for her failing to ask obvious questions, and
her curiosity is quite appealing. Carolyn also builds up the idea of
ghosts as the past given form, showing how one’s dwelling upon what
came before only strengthens it, but without Carolyn actually making it
a specific part of the film’s world.
“Eventually, things take a turn toward a less introspective sort of
supernatural thriller, and does that well enough. It’s still a nifty
little ghost story all told, not revolutionary, but very nicely
executed. 4 cats
“Seen 14 December 2014 in the Somerville Theatre Micro-Cinema (Etheria
Film Night, digital)” |
