The Invitation (2016)
Directed by Karyn Kusama
Will and his new girlfriend Kira are invited to a dinner with old friends at the house of Will’s ex Eden and her new partner David. Although the evening appears to be relaxed, Will soon gets a creeping suspicion that their charming host David is up to something.
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Or is it, like Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Celebration,” a matter of everything that goes wrong is very right and simply hasn’t been spoken aloud even though it demands to be spoken aloud?
While the high bar for reunions gone wrong is “The Celebration,” Kusama’s abstract approach suggests Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” by way of Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party” (with a touch of Ti West’s Jonestown-inspired “The Sacrament”).
That patience is rewarded, and then capped by one of the nicest final shots since Hitchcock's "The Birds."
Porque es precisamente el dolor enquistado, el mismo que llevaba al matrimonio de Vinyan (Fabrice Du Welz, 2008) a desintegrarse en la jungla, el que activa los mecanismos del horror y el que amenaza a sus personajes con transformar una locura individual en una locura colectiva.
Set during a mysterious reunion among old friends where something is quite palpably not right, this well-acted, beautifully modulated exercise represents director Karyn Kusama ’s strongest work in years, revealing an assurance of tone, craft and purpose that haven’t been in evidence since her Sundance prize-winning debut, “Girlfight” (2000).
Working from a screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, director Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight”) creates a tension-filled atmosphere that brings to mind the early, pre-Hollywood films of Roman Polanski.
For the first time since her 2000 debut feature, the Sundance hit "Girlfight," she has taken the steps to make a movie for herself, using her own sensibilities, with the hope other viewers will share in her tastes.
Subverting expectations with former credits like the "Ride Along" movies and "R.I.P.D," writers Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi have crafted a multi-layered psychological thriller which director Karyn Kusama ("Girlfight," "Jennifer's Body") has finessed into cinematic character driven paranoia.
Kusama (“Girlfight,” “Jennifer’s Body”) ratchets up the tension expertly; we, like Will, become increasingly uncomfortable, seeing evil omens everywhere.
I know how important Girlfight was to female filmmakers and leads, the Latino demographic and I have it to thank for Michelle Rodriguez in Furious 7, but I hope Kusama would accept that 15 years after her first movie, I say she’s developed even greater skills.
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It fits neatly into a recent trend of low-budget thrillers that use the civility of a house party as the starting point for a descent into carefully controlled chaos: See also 2013’s Cheap Thrills and Coherence.
De esta idea maléfica nacieron recientes joyas del terror psicológico como The One I Love o Coherence, en las que el miedo no se acababa al llegar a casa sino que empezaba al entrar por la puerta, al encontrarnos con nuestros colegas, o peor, con nuestra pareja.
He starred as Jewel in James Franco’s little-seen adaptation of William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying,” and he’s probably best known for his role as Charlie Holloway in Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus.”
Imagine The Big Chill by way of And Then There Were None and you’ve got the basic set-up for The Invitation, Karyn Kusama’s overdue return to feature filmmaking after back-to-back box-office disappointments Aeon Flux and Jennifer’s Body unfairly condemned her to a lengthy stint in movie jail.
It fits neatly into a recent trend of low-budget thrillers that use the civility of a house party as the starting point for a descent into carefully controlled chaos: See also 2013’s Cheap Thrills and Coherence.
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Kusama ups the tension "Rosemary's Baby" style, keeping background action partially obscured, open to interpretation.
Imagine The Big Chill by way of And Then There Were None and you’ve got the basic set-up for The Invitation, Karyn Kusama’s overdue return to feature filmmaking after back-to-back box-office disappointments Aeon Flux and Jennifer’s Body unfairly condemned her to a lengthy stint in movie jail.