ALONE
US, 2020, 98 minutes, Colour.
Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald.
Directed by John Hyams.
Alone is a thriller but a male audience and a female audience will respond quite differently. The central character, who is alone, is female, recently widowed, leaving the city and driving north in the forests of the north-western Pacific states, where the action was filmed. She is chosen as a victim but a victim who will gain strength, assert herself and survive. Women in the audience will identify with her, so will the male audience, empathetically as it is hoped, in their own way.
There are a number of criticisms of the film, that it had been done before and that is truer than some of the commentators know because it was a remake of a Swedish film, Gone, and Mattias Olsson, the writer and co-director of the original film has written the screenplay here. But, to say that it has been done before is not necessarily strong grounds for criticism.
This review takes the stand that the experience of watching Alone has a strong effect on us.
The audience is introduced to the central character, Jessica (strongly played by Jules Willcox) moving home. We later learn some of her situation, her husband dead, alienation from her mother. The film has several chapter titles charting Jessica's experience. The first is The Road, the scenery beautiful, then a car driving slowly in front, preventing Jessica from overtaking, reminding audiences who know Steven Spielberg's 1970s film, Duel, of how frightening cat and mouse tactics on the highway can be.
We are then introduced to the man, Marc Menchaca (only in the final moments do we learn his name is Sam), who has plausible explanations about his road behaviour but then he reappears, an ordinary -looking person that you might not give a second glance to, but insinuatingly sinister and threatening to Jessica.
So, we know that this is going to be an abduction story. There are some eventual revelations about the man's misogynistic persecution of Jessica, suggestions rather than any explanations.
Which means that the latter part of the film is internment in a basement, an unexpected escape, Pursued through the forest, the river, an encounter with a friendly hunter who might have been a help, but all building up to the expected final confrontation, the man losing his cool, making a taunting speech to the hidden Jessica, speaking of his despising of cowards and challenging her to confront him.
Well, the confrontation does take place, not quite in the way expected but Jessica's vindication nonetheless.
Yes, this is a genre film, an abduction by an aggressive male, with the various conventions of intimidation, imprisonment, escape, a final battle.. Of course, it is contrived, that is the nature of this kind of psychological thriller entertainment.
1. The title? Jessica and her experiences, the duel on the road, the abduction, the escape, the pursuit, the confrontation?
2. The opening in the city, packing, the U-Haul?, driving through the city, the countryside, travelling north to the forests, the beauty, the highway, cliffs, rivers, the towns, service stations?
3. The chapter headings on screen, audience anticipation?
4. The transition to the basement, the house? Into the forest, the trees, the river? The night, the morning, the clearing, the range of settings? The musical score?
5. Jessica, her packing, decision to leave, the gradual revealing of her story, the photos of herself and her husband, his suicide, the phone calls with her father, avoiding her mother, difficulties with her mother? Her wanting a new life?
6. On the road, her sense of freedom, the old black car, going slowly, the attempted overtaking, the car not allowing her, at the motel, the encounter with the man, the plausibility of his explanations about texting, his arm in a sling? The next encounter on the road, the breakdown, her fear, her driving away? Her stopping, the man appearing again, attempted explanation? Her apprehension, the vehicle blocking the road, his accusation that she almost hit him, her driving away, the crash, the trailer and the slashed tyre, her being abducted?
7. Audience empathy with Jessica, sharing her experiences, the tension, a woman alone, the mysterious male, his eventual misogyny?
8. In the basement, his entry confrontation, the iPad and the scenes of Jessica with her husband, the man taunting her about his cowardice, lying down beside her? Her using her ingenuity, pulling out the nail, her jacket under the door, poking out the key, getting free, upstairs, the man's arrival, hiding, his eating his breakfast, the phone call to his wife and children?
9. Her escape through the woods, the wound to her foot, his pursuit, to the river, diving in, the rapids, her being able to get out of the river? The bewilderment, in the woods, the hunter, her hitting him, her explanations, his accepting them, helping her, his car, giving her the boots, the tree trunk across the road? The man arriving, his spinning his story about her mental condition, the hunter bewildered, Jessica suggesting he ask for the phone, to check with the police, the struggle, the man bashing Robert, shooting him, taking the body?
10. Jessica, the rain, the night, hiding in the tree trunk? The man's return, her hiding in the water, listening to his challenge, the bravado, putting the gun down, taunting Jessica, about cowards, about her husband? Her resisting?
11. The next day, Jessica still in the forest, the man arriving with his car, the grave, carrying the body?
12. Jessica, her ingenuity, no key, getting the tool, going to the back of the car? The man suspicious? Jessica attacking him, the erratic driving, the crash, her getting out? In the mud? Getting to the clearing? The helicopter flying over? The man getting out, the final confrontation, Jessica having his phone, the call to his wife, Jessica telling her the truth, the man dissembling, the wife getting more and more upset? The fight with the tool, the knife, Jessica eventually vanquishing him?
13. The final moments, the eyes of the dead man? The eyes of Jessica? The traumatic experience? Her future?
