Culture
What to watch if you liked ‘Weapons’
By: Gordon Briggs
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Weapons hooked audiences and became a surprise summer hit with its story of missing children, macabre characters, and memorable suburban setting. Watching it, I couldn’t help but think of other unusual films with similar story lines. Here are three other mysteries for viewers who liked Weapons.
The first is strange, beguiling, and beautiful: Picnic at Hanging Rock. It’s a work I hold in high regard. Similar to Weapons, the story is propelled by an unexplained disappearance. Here, we follow the mysterious disappearance of a group of schoolgirls whilst on a picnic to the titular Hanging Rock. As far as visuals go, the film’s look is top-notch. Drawing influence from Impressionism, cinematographer Russel Boyd gives the film an ethereal, dreamlike quality. However, the filmmakers have done far more than just shoot the landscape. Peter Weir’s direction emphasizes the constrained and corseted behavior of the school and how it teaches the girls to be ‘civilized’ and then contrasts that constraint with the vast, untamed landscape of Australia. That choice, to explore the precarious line between nature and civilization, and to ultimately let the film remain a mystery, is why the movie sticks with you long after it ends. Rating: ★★★★
Imagine an episode of Leave it to Beaver directed by Jefferey Dahmer, and you would get this twisted little ’80s gem entitled Parents. Like Weapons, this is a suburban horror flick where everything ordinary subtly masks something sinister. Here, we meet Michael Laema, a mousy 10-year-old boy growing up in ’50s suburbia. Outwardly, the Laemas look like the perfect family, but when night falls, Michael suspects his parents may be cannibals. What works is how the movie unfolds entirely from the child’s POV. That choice of perspective enables the film to make the most ordinary suburban items appear grotesque and strange. P.S. The shots of meat are so stomach-churning, they could turn a meat-eater into a vegetarian. Rating: ★ ★ ★1/2
How far would you go to find your kidnapped child? At their core, both Weapons and Prisoners concern how far parents are willing to go when their child is in danger. Here we meet Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), a father who faces a parent’s worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter and her friend, go missing. Dover, knowing that his daughter’s life is at stake, decides that he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands and kidnaps, imprisons, and tortures the man he feels is responsible. Right from its opening moments, director Denis Villeneuve crafts a bleak and somber tone, characterized by a somber, cloudy, and rainy aesthetic, which makes the town feel perpetually oppressive and lets us know that nobody will escape this story unscathed. Both films also explore how communities react to unsettling events. In the end, Prisoners is a mystery that works because neither the characters nor the audience is ever sure of anything, including who the guilty party may be.
★ ★ ★1⁄2