Light body horror, great character work, and blunt force storytelling. The film Bring Her Back is a glossy, well-constructed movie that couldn’t keep from spoiling its own ending.
The Good
I didn’t have much background on this movie when I started it other than some mild memories of reading about it here and there. It clearly didn’t have much of a cultural staying power because people weren’t talking about a year later, but there was something about its poster that felt promising. Something something books something something covers.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of good stuff in this movie. The three main characters: brother, sister, and adoptive mom, were all fantastic in their roles. Even the teenaged white boy older brother was perfectly believable in his role as a disturbed, scared kid just trying his best to make up for his past. Their stories were all woven with care and intention, and I found no faults in that aspect of the film.
The body horror, the many times it happens, was fantastic. The standout was Jonah Wren Phillips, who plays the haunted boy, and man, for a little kid to have done the stuff he did, and the way he did it? He was the horror heart and soul of this movie, and the filmmakers’ huge gamble on him paid off in a big way.
Heck, even the cinematography was pretty good in this movie. The film didn’t have too many opportunities for pretty images baked into it, but they found a way!
The Bad
That said, in retrospect, the film doesn’t have much to it. Of the two characters who had proper arcs built up, one dies before it comes to fruition, and the other ends predictably. The other two characters, the ones with the least characterization to them, get to survive the film. I wasn’t unsatisfied, I was just disconnected. On top of that, the film spoils its own ending as soon as the two kids arrive at the foster mom’s home. Within minutes, the whole plot felt spelled out to us.
That’s ironic, considering I’ve gone to uncharacteristic lengths to keep from spoiling this movie, because I think it’s gonna be hilarious when you guys get around to it and think, ‘wait. Why are we still watching this?’
At this point, I did do some light background reading into the movie, and discovered that the guys who made it also made Talk to Me, which I also felt lukewarm about when I saw it. Then I realized that the guys who made these movies were just some bogans who did publicity stunts on YouTube and stupid boxing matches associated with the Paul brothers. I don’t know how these guys managed to make such competent films, but props to them. In the context of their cultural background, it’s kind of impressive this movie didn’t have any weird crap about the vision-impaired Asian girl in it.
The YMMV
Spoilers: I rated Bring Her Back
YMMV
I watched Bring Her Back on HBO.
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