FREAKS

US, 2018, 105 minutes, Colour.
Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, Lexy Kolker, Ava Telek, Michelle Harrison, Matty Finochio, Aleks Paunovic.
Directed by Zach LIpovsky, Adam B. Stein.

An unexpectedly striking film.

Audiences wanting to see a film which is complex in its narrative, not always immediately explaining who the characters were and what is going on, continued twists, aspects of science-fiction, reality and fantasy - this is it. And, as audiences watch, they accept the narrative, ready to go with all the twists, interested in and probably enjoying the mystery of the plot.

The title indicates that within society there are some people who are different, and here they are called both freaks and “Abnormal�. One of the immediate difficulties for our comprehending who the freaks are and why they are considered abnormal is that we see little, indeed very little, of the ordinary world and ordinary human beings. In fact, most of the action of this film takes place within a house, somewhat derelict looking, those living there seeming like squatters, a downstairs space and rooms upstairs, and some windows. They can look out across the street where an ordinary family lives.

And, who are they? Yes, they are freaks. They are father and daughter, she seven years old, he committed to protecting her from the outside world, her not being allowed to go out, her creating a scenario of a false life in case she is caught and interrogated. And they can be identified because their eyes bleed. But there is something wrong with him and his protectiveness, he seems paranoid, intense, lapsing, collapsing.

Emile Hirsch plays the father, convincing in his concern (and, as he grows older, Hirsch could pass for Jack Black’s younger brother in appearance and style!). Chloe, his daughter, is most effectively played by Lexi Kolker. She is completely convincing and the focus of the film is on her character and her safety.

While the father does go out to get supplies, she asks for ice cream and then sees one of those ice cream trucks driven by Mr Snowcone. This will lead to some unexpected drama, with Bruce Dern and his ability to be both sinister and comic at the same time, driving the truck – and further revelations about what he wants with Chloe and more stories about her mother who had been captured and is now dead.

Or is she? She can appear to her daughter but the question is whether she is still alive or not. And, the filmmakers then continually tantalise us with shifts in time, the duration of time, the ability to shift in place, Chloe’s ability and her determination to enter into people’s minds and control them.

Further action includes the family across the street, the police and an inspector investigating, some torture chambers with the freaks as victims…

So, some congratulations to the writers-directors on their imagination and on their ingenuity in creating such an intriguing and striking film.

1. The title? The “Abnormals�? The contrast with normal people – and most of them not seen during the film?

2. The setting in the apartment, the street and the house across the street? The trip in the truck? The internment centre, its eerie atmosphere? The musical score?

3. The plot and the narrative, continued uncertainty for the audience? The issues of who? Why? What? What was real, what imagined? Years passing or only short times? Uses of ghosts and presences? Shifting in space, disappearance? The power of getting into other people’s minds? The importance of survival for the freaks?

4. The interiors of the house, ordinary, the rooms, Chloe’s room, rooms locked? The windows interviews?

5. The father, in himself, his age, abnormal, protecting his daughter, the paranoia, his blackouts, fears, staying within the house, the bleeding eye, becoming more frantic? Love for his daughter, training her, the scenario and rehearsing it? The tests?

6. Chloe, the names, age 7, her being abnormal, intelligent, a love for her mother and a singer, the sense of the mother’s presence, relating to her father, learning the scenario, practising, the bond between them, yet her wanting to go outside? His going to the store? Her wanting the ice cream?

7. Mr Snowcone, seeing him outside, coming outside, talking with him, his pleasant manner, leading her on, the drive, the ice cream? The connection, the stories, her mother, the story of the unicorn? Threats, taking her? The truth about him?

8. Harper, from across the street, with Chloe in the night, the portrait of her parents, their promising to look after Chloe? Harper and her hostility?

9. Alan, his interaction with Chloe, with her father, the revelation about his daughter, whether she was dead or not? Wanting to take Chloe to the mountain? Offering to help?

10. Issues of times and places, moving from one to the other, the wife and her being tortured, being a rebel? The torturer, Chloe appearing, taking over, his speaking with her voice, helping her to escape?

11. Chloe, the strength of the control, entering into people’s minds? Even to their killing themselves? The father and his reaction to this, going to the house across the street, acceptance, Harper and her hostility, the father accepting her, the mother and her change of mind?

12. The police officer, her arrival, the interrogation in the search, her knowing the facts? Chloe entering into her mind? Her death? The police?

13. The plan for the freaks, the policy, elimination?

14. Alan, seeing him, not seeing him, his interventions? His death?

15. The father, love, injuries, self-sacrifice?

16. The mother, Chloe and the escape, with her daughter? The future?