Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: FAMILY [South By Southwest Film Festival 2024 - Austin, Texas]

The aspect of perspective and perception depends on the situation and intentions played. With "Family" [Midnighter], the film focuses on a young girl Johanna (Cameron Dawson Gray) and how she deals with the sickness of her father and the shift of attention with her. Unlike something like "Suncoast", "Family" ranges much darker with the lead a character being persecuted for what she thinks is happening. Ruth Wilson and Ben Chaplin play her parents where Chaplin is going through what seems like a terminal disease. The big build of the film runs around the birdhouse, an odd shaped portal which moves towards a different world. Supposedly there is an entity overtaking her parents. It takes on a physical form but ultimately it works as a metaphor. The creature itself is bathed in certain visual styles that influenced the director (but also a certain Aphex Twin video comes to mind). The intent is of Johanna to come to terms of with what is happening to her father even though she thinks the universe is out to get her. This reflects in how she thinks the birdhouse is taking everything from her.

Wilson plays the mother with the duality needed (even if it is in the girl's mind) and Chaplin has a creepy sensibility (though he reminded this reviewer initially of another actor). There is also an inherent Wizard Of Oz motif and mentality (since Dorothy herself might have been going through a type of breakdown). Of course this is also reflected directly in Toto, their greyhound pet which goes missing. A specific vision that Johanna has after his disappearance is creepy but is an interesting way of turning the mind of a child inward. Just like whispers in the dark or shadows of light, writer/director Benjamin Finkel tries to take stock of this but it also reflects his own experience. The progression seeks to find that balance of twilight and stolen moments that perhaps might be fleeting to an adult but seem to fester inside a younger brain. Johanna is jealous of why her mother needs to take care of her father and that he is somehow causing this. Ultimately it comes down to stamping out the blackness in her heart or psyche while still understanding (through the birdhouse) that the world is big and lonely despite everything around her. B

By Tim Wassberg