Locked inside a creaky old house, an 11-year-old girl named Johanna witnesses her father’s decline from illness and her mother’s slow descent into madness. As strange events start occurring, she questions if the malevolent spirit she unwittingly summoned is behind it all.
Such is the plot of Family, the debut film from writer-director Benjamin Finkel. Steering the ship is a talented cast led by up-and-comer Cameron Dawson Gray as Johanna alongside Ruth Wilson and Ben Chaplin as her fractured parents.
While not without its flaws, Family unsettles through its grounded yet nightmarish view of a family in crisis. Finkel draws on his own experiences with a sick parent to immerse us in Johanna’s dread. The result is a haunting portrait of caretaking that highlights resilience, fear, and the agony of watching loved ones suffer before your eyes.
Family Tales
Young Johanna’s world is turned upside down after her family relocates to care for her father Harry’s worsening illness. Though only a child, Johanna feels the weight of her family’s challenges acutely. Hoping to help her dad, she hangs a homemade birdhouse in their new home, naively calling upon forces she does not fully understand.
Johanna’s life was already difficult, with a preoccupied mother Naomi and father’s declining health consuming the household. But strange events after the birdhouse further shake her stability. Objects disappear without explanation, odd shadows lurk just out of view, and tensions rise between her parents. Scariest of all is wondering if the changes are really in her head, or if some threat is manipulating her reality.
We see the story purely from Johanna’s perspective. An innocent kid swept up in family trauma, she feels abandoned and fears being alone with her worrisome thoughts. Her perception of the situation may not be fully rational, but her feelings are no less real. The family unit meant to protect her now brings her more worries instead of relief.
As events spin further out of control, even Johanna’s once-stable relationships show cracks. Naomi struggles to juggle caretaking duties while keeping stress at bay, sometimes snapping in frustration. Kindhearted Harry tries maintaining normalcy despite his condition. But will love and support be enough to overcome these family’s demons, or will Johanna’s creativity become her downfall?
This film explores the pressures that arise when serious illness enters a home, and how good intentions can inadvertently damage family bonds during hard times. Though the story builds an aura of supernatural mystery, its true horror comes from the all-too-human emotions of a family in crisis.
Mastering the Terrors Within
Young Johanna faces terrors that cannot be vanquished by any spirit or shield. Yet in Cameron Dawson Gray’s haunted yet hopeful portrayal, we witness a soul braving darkness through grit, grace and resilience. Though still a child, Johanna’s fear is met with fierce protection of her ailing father – and in those tender scenes between Gray and Ben Chaplin, we see her care cut through even death’s shadows.
If Johanna’s battle is internal, her mother Naomi wages her own war without, as grief and duty strain her beyond endurance. In Ruth Wilson’s unflinching performance, we know a heart holding fast though close to breaking.
Her love is a lifeline, even as stress’s surge threatens to smash its slowing pulse. Yet even in madness’s maws she keeps her own strange music, love’s light lending her fury a humanity that honors the depths of her dedication.
Steadying these staggering performances are reliable rocks. Ben Chaplin lends heartbreaking poignance to a parent’s powerlessness against pain. Allan Corduner extends warmth where the grim reaper steals it. Together they form anchors in the abyss, so viewers may cast their eyes to Gray and Wilson’s duel without drowning in darkness themselves. In facing family’s fears with such ferocity, the film finds phoenixes even in ashes.
The Gripping Vision of Benjamin Finkel
Benjamin Finkel draws viewers deep into his main character’s perspective from the start. We experience the world just as frightened young Johanna does, heightened in fear and confusion. Finkel prioritizes atmosphere over straightforward plot, crafting an unsettling sense of unease that lingers long after viewing.
Visuals play a big role in this unmooring effect. Finkel uses lighting and camerawork to blur lines between reality and imagination. Shadows seem to twist and breathe on the walls, while empty hallways stretch endlessly in dim glow. Strange sights appear without context at the periphery. Simple noises take on new menace in the quiet, empty home. Finkel masters the intimate close-up, putting us right in Johanna’s viewpoint to share her constant search for threat or comfort in even small motions.
Adding to the drifting sense are touches of ambiguous fantasy. Are the faint cries and whispers Johanna hears truly there, or manifestations of her worries? Visceral scenes like her dog’s disturbing transformation leave us as unsettled as the distraught child. Finkel trusts viewers to stay immersed without overt explanation for each unnatural event. Fears seem almost plausible in this world where conventional logic no longer applies.
Of course, Finkel knows when shock is needed to punctuate tension. But jump scares come infrequently and follow no predictable pattern, keeping audiences constantly braced. Even more, music is used sparingly to maximize impact. Simple acoustic notes swell suddenly to jolting volume during key scenes. In tight close-ups of Johanna scrambling through the dark, strains of a haunting lullaby crawling just at the edge of hearing take on a nightmarish edge.
Through his direction, Finkel places us right by Johanna’s side on a harrowing journey into the unknown. Immersive and unnerving, his debut shows a masterful command of atmosphere that will haunt viewers long afterward.
Family Matters
There is perhaps no heavier burden than caring for someone you love as their life comes to an end. In Family, Benjamin Finkel shines a light on this difficult topic and the ways it can subtly unravel even the closest of families.
At the centre of the story is Johanna, a young girl watching helplessly as her father battles a terminal illness. With her mother acting as sole caregiver, Johanna finds herself pushed aside amid the stresses and sacrifices of her parents’ new realities. Her childhood sense of safety and stability in the home are shaken. Finkel captures how even small gestures meant to reassure a worried child can come across as dismissive during such a trying time.
As her father’s condition worsens, Johanna tries making sense of it through a child’s imagination. Struggles to protect him manifest as supernatural encounters in the house. Finkel uses horror tropes to externalize the raw emotions she faces inside – the fears around death and feelings of powerlessness. In her fear and loneliness, even her own mother begins to seem threatening.
We also see how the grueling responsibility weighing on the mother starts eroding her ability to nurture as she once did. Wilson conveys the exhaustion and distress that comes with round-the-clock care, showing how caretaking can distort normal maternal instincts. Importantly, Finkel avoids portraying her as a villain – only as a human stretched to her limits.
Throughout it all, Family highlights how a life-threatening illness can subtly damage family bonds unless open communication and emotional support are maintained. In shining a light on the lonely reality children in Johanna’s position may face, Finkel’s film brings an important perspective to representations of loss, grief, and the toll of terminal caring for loved ones.
Family Fractures
While Family starts off strong, creating an unsettling atmosphere and focus on trauma, certain aspects held it back from greatness. The narrative structure became somewhat muddled in the second half. Just as the emotional tension was rising with the father’s condition worsening, it dove headfirst into outlandish horror tropes that didn’t fit the intimate family drama. We were left with more questions than answers regarding the threat plaguing the young girl.
Motivations and backstories seemed thinly developed at times as well. The mother’s mental state understandably darkened as caretaker stress rose, but more insight into her side could have made her escalating volatile actions more understandable to the audience. And the entity terrorizing the family was ominous but lacked definition beyond creating mayhem. More time fleshing out its purpose may have heightened fear over its objectives.
These narrative choices pulled viewers out of the film’s otherwise vivid rendering of a child’s inner turmoil. The psychological elements proved much more compelling than crude shock tactics. Perhaps simplifying some visual elements in favor of diving deeper into the troubled relationships could have left a more unsettling and emotionally impactful impression. While Gray and Wilson’s raw performances hinted at deeper wounds, greater insight into the family dynamics was wanted.
With a tighter focus on the interpersonal fallout of illness within one home, Family could have approached greatness. But in striving to convey too much using Gothic plot devices, it muddied a compelling core story of anticipation, anguish and fracturing bonds during humanity’s most vulnerable moments. More subtlety may have ensured this haunting debut sunk its claws in more deeply.
Family Resonates With Raw Emotion
This debut feature wastes no time sinking its claws into the viewer. From the opening scenes, an unshakeable sense of unease takes hold as we’re plunged into young Johanna’s fractured world. Her father’s illness casts a long shadow, straining relationships within the home.
Director Benjamin Finkel draws us in with unflinching portrayals of a family pushed to the brink. Ruth Wilson and Ben Chaplin melt hearts as parents at their wit’s end. Yet it’s Lucinda Lee Dawson Gray who owns the screen with a turn that feels gut-wrenchingly real. Barely more than a child herself, she transports us to a place of profound sorrow and isolation.
The creaking house takes on a claustrophobic edge as unknown terrors prowl just out of sight. Finkel understands that what we don’t see can be profoundly disturbing. Sparse music heightens the tension, while clever lighting lends an uncanny dread to ordinary spaces.
Not all narrative strands hold together by the finale. The ambitious reach sometimes exceeds the grasp of this first feature. Yet Finkel demonstrates a masterful command of atmosphere that burrows under the skin. His unflinching empathy for the suffering of his young characters is rarely seen.
While not flawless, Family holds power as an evocation of family trauma. It demands to be felt as much as analyzed. With raw talent on display, Finkel shows promise for gracing screens with many more unsettling visions. For those willing to embrace its bleak beauty, this unique horror debut offers visceral chills and staying power.
The Review
Family
Benjamin Finkel's debut feature Family proves a strikingly unnerving portrait of a family pushed beyond endurance. While not perfect, its horrific imagery and profoundly moving central performances will linger long after viewing. Finkel demonstrates a mature understanding of psychological terror and the complexity of coping with terminal illness. Fans of slow-burn dread will find much to appreciate in this bleak yet beautifully crafted horror film.
PROS
- Deeply unsettling atmosphere and tone
- Exceptional lead performances, especially from Gray
- Establishes a palpable sense of dread and unease
- Artful use of lighting, space and music to build tension
- Addresses difficult themes of family trauma with empathy
CONS
- Narrative coherence falters somewhat in the third act
- May not satisfy those seeking traditional scares
- Ambitious reach exceeds grasp at times for a debut feature
