Indie Watch
In the House
By Dan Krovich
October 3, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
VOD Pick of the Week
In the House
In the House is a delightfully lightly twisted slightly comic thriller that feels like the type of film Hitchcock would make if he were making films today and was French. The director in this case is Francois Ozon, the director of films such as Under the Sand, Swimming Pool, and 8 Women, and one of the most underrated directors working today.
The film begins with high school writing and literature teacher Germain grading papers. A failed writer, he does not hide his disdain for being stuck teaching high school as he complains to his wife about the low quality of work produced for his “What did you do this weekend?” writing project. Then he comes across Claude’s paper, which intrigues Germain with a spark of talent. Claude writes of how he has been essentially been stalking the family of his classmate, Rapha, and that this weekend he was able to score an invitation into his house by agreeing to help him with math. Claude’s obsession crosses the line of creepy and he ends his essay with “to be continued.”
Though Germain realizes the boundaries being crossed, he encourages Claude to continue this project under the guise of nurturing a student’s talent, but just as much for the voyeuristic thrill it brings. Claude continues to insinuate himself into Rapha’s family, providing regular installments of hand written essays for his teacher detailing his crush on Rapha’s mother and attempts to replace Rapha in his father’s eyes. We only see Claude’s interactions with the family through his writing, so it’s impossible to know how much is fact, exaggeration, or outright fiction. Germain gives advice on how the story should proceed and Claude even does rewrites.
In the House works on several levels. On the surface it is an entertaining thriller. As Claude’s interaction with Rapha’s family increases there is a definite foreboding overtone, but also in his interactions with Germain we see that the student is also manipulating the teacher. There is also the question of the audience’s role in the work of an artist. Claude is writing only for Germain (though Germain also shares it with his wife) and that shapes the direction of Claude’s stories. We even see Germain pop up in the stories to provide plot suggestions. There is also the element of class envy as Claude comes from a lower class background and has a fascination with his middle class friend’s life.
Although ostensibly a thriller, the tone remains generally light and comical, something Hitchcock would have appreciated. We get little insight into Claude’s motivations. There are glimpses, but he largely remains a blank slate, which serves him well to manipulate others by allowing them to project themselves onto him, paralleling the role that artists can have to their audience.
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
New releases for October 4th
A. C. O. D.: Carter (Adam Scott) is a seemingly well-adjusted A. C. O. D. (adult child of divorce). He has dealt with that childhood trauma by keeping his family at an arm’s length. When his younger brother declares he is getting married and Carter is confronted with the idea of the entire family in one place at the same time, old insecurities are brought up. Carter also learns that as a child he was unknowingly part of a study on the effects of divorce on children and is included in a best-selling book on the topic.
Concussion: Abby lives a comfortable suburban life with her wife Kate and their kids. They have reached that stage of their relationship where the passion is gone and they are going through the motions. When she gets hit in the head with a baseball, something is awakened. To explore her newly found libido, she becomes a prostitute through the help of her friend who serves as her pimp, setting her up with a variety of women in this lesbian take on Bunuel’s Belle De Jour.
Available at Vudu
The Dirties: The found footage genre takes on school shootings in The Dirties. Matt and Owen are high school friends who are making a movie called The Dirties, in which they play the protagonists who kill the high school bullies. The film provides them with an outlet for their frustrations with the high school pecking order. Things begin to get out of hand when Matt starts to blur the lines between the film and real life. The Dirties has garnered the “Kevin Smith Presents” tag which should get it some attention from his fans.
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
Parkland: Parkland is an ensemble drama based around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The film focuses less on the actual assassination and more on the lives of those dealing immediately with the aftermath, including the doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital where the president was taken and died, the brother and mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the FBI agents and secret service team whose job it was to protect the president. The all-star cast includes Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Jacki Weaver, Marcia Gay Harden, and Zac Efron.
The Summit: In August 2008, 22 expert climbers met to scale the peak of K2, the second highest mountain in the world. Forty-eight hours later, 11 of them had lost their lives. Through the climbers’ first hand footage and interviews with the survivors, The Summit documents those fateful two days where difficult and possibly questionable decisions had to be made in the quest for survival.