By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Eskil Vogt
Starring: Alva Brynsmo Ramstad | Ellen Dorrit Petersen | Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim | Morten Svartveit | Rakel Lenora Fløttum | Sam Ashraf
Original language title: De uskyldige
Country: denmark, finland, france, norway, sweden, united_kingdom
Year: 2022
Running time: 117
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4028464/reference/
Brett says: “THE INNOCENTS is a film that see-saws back and forth with character-driven family drama and shocking kid-fueled horror/fantasy. The film’s primary focus is on a group of four Norwegian children who—through their own sets of circumstantial conflicts—have by-passed summer holiday and now cross paths during their stay-at-home summer school breaks. The extra bit of flair written into the situation is that they are each super-powered in their own psionic ways, like a pre-pubescent set of X-Men. While there is most definitely an audience for this particular film, some of the film’s reaches with this concept are a bit of a … well, reach. It does try to toe the line between universal sympathy/appeal toward the children and the fantastical, squirm-in-one’s-seat moments. To its credit, the execution of this balance on screen does indeed make it more palatable than what might otherwise be a cringe-worthy one-liner read of what the movie’s about, as seen above. At the same time, despite acknowledging the fact that film does hit its mark on occasion, the film does not always succeed with its slow burn and THE OMEN-esque long takes coupled with ominous creepy kid stare-downs. For many, this study of empathy-less children (and the ‘good guy’ antitheses of this) will have its intended creepy effect and cheer-along moments. And it’s commendable that more than one of the characters’ story arcs are not something we typically see in kid dramas. Certainly, the cast of first-time on-screen child actors are also noteworthy and to be appreciated. But, there are times where the ‘kid charm wears a bit thin, and the audience is required to give the film a bit more slack than it may deserve (this seems to be more of a directorial or editing issue than with the kids themselves). One character in particular suffers from overextension of that character’s story-arc by the end of the film. Definitely one that was worth the screen time and the experience, but it can be a bit too ‘cute’ at times for its polar opposite intended effects.
“Warning: Not recommended for animal lovers/animal-sensitive viewers (see also ’empathy-less’ reference above) 3 cats out of 5“