The Tall Man (2012)
Starring: Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, William B Davis, Stephen McHattie
Category: A - New
Plot Tags: Mystery, child in peril, Thriller
Original release / release date: March 2012 (South by Southwest)
Format viewed: VOD
Directed & Written: Pascal Laugier
Studio: Image Entertainment
The Tall Man has been on my list to see since it premired at South By Southwest this past March. Seeing as screenings are a profound pain to get into, I generally just keep notes on what-all is showing and track them down later. I had the option of Blu-Ray, DVD or VOD and since the first two required a trip up to Vulcan, I opted for VOD. I ended up opting for VOD two nights in a row because it got too late to finish in one sitting. I blame that, in part, by Netflix acting the fool and being all slow with its streaming. Regardless, I finished it at the wee hours this morning.
This will be a really tough movie to talk about without giving away entirely too much about the plot itself. The writer/director Pascal Laugier seemed to have positioned the film explaining/showing only the first parts of the movie to keep this mystery intact and I'll give that a go. I thought about writing out a whole paragraph about the second half of the film and do it in clear type color so that, if you wanted to read that part all you had to do was highlight it and there you go, piles of spoilers. However, my experience with Blogger has been that, if viewed on a phone, that clear type just shows up. Such was the case with a review I read of Kill List that noted a potential type of film it might fit into in clear type (the reviewer was absolutely well intentioned but thwarted by Blogger/phone issue) - thereby kind of setting up a myriad of pre-expectations for that one. So I think my best bet is to try to note overall themes and hope not to foul it up for the potential viewers of the film.
I state all of that because the film is very very good, not only upon first viewing but also in thinking about it afterward. I found myself running stuff through my head on the drive to work on a constant loop - trying to gauge out my feelings on the subject matter. So here are the basics, Jessica Biel ( of 7th Heaven - family TV show, Texas Chainsaw Massacre - not a family TV show) stars as Julia Dunning, a nurse practitioner in a small Washington state mining town. The town itself, Cold Rock, has been beat to hell by the closing of the local mine and the residents seem to be withering right along with it. In addition to this, there is a local legend about 'the tall man' an entity that steals children away in the night, never to be seen again. Now, the feeling you get from the town and the surrounding areas is very very rural, very poor. If you've seen the film Winter's Bone and noted the condition of the housing and cars, this is in that league - a really downtrodden and terrible environment. This is magnified by the ongoing disappearances of children and the despair it leaves behind. Julia lives with her nanny and her son, her husband (the town's only and former doctor) having died. There is an inherent strangeness to the way people interact with her and with each other that is a little confusing - normal people who look normal acting kind of off. Anyway, The Tall Man comes for Julia's daughter and, despite efforts, she cannot stop the abduction and is found on the side of the road, bloodied and a mess, by the local sheriff (X-Files' icon, The Smoking Man - Stephen McHattie). Once she is brought back to town, things start going really weird and are a little confusing, then a lot confusing, then it just drives forward with little time to stop and take stock. *****Okay, so at this point in the proceedings, I can't really talk more about the plot without giving a lot away. The monster story to this point grows and changes and, well dammit, I can't say more than that in good conscience****
What I can say is Jessica Biel is really great, probably the best acting job she has done to date. She disappears into the role well and plays the spectrum of emotion, challenge, fright and resolve is a pretty impressive way. Not to the level of Belen Rueda in one of my all time favorites El Orfanato (The Orphanage) but in that arena. Anyway, she is quite good. The film in general is so beautifully shot and constructed that you get lulled into a sense of familiarity in the surroundings. Much like in the masterful television show The Killing, the environment in The Tall Man becomes a character by itself which adds to the tension and the feel of it.
If you're familiar with Laugier's last film, Martyrs, I feel like it is appropriate to note two things about this film. One, for people who love Martyrs, The Tall Man is nothing like it. Two, for people who were totally nauseated by Martyrs, The Tall Man is nothing like it. This is such a departure from that film that it is a little tough to draw any lines from one to the other. Sufficed to say, Pascal Laugier is a really sharp director with an even sharper pen. Again, without going too much into detail, the themes surrounding child welfare, child abuse and 'the greater good' are pretty stark and strong and have a lot to say without preaching or lecturing. This will likely be one of my more favorite movies this year so if you can trust me that the violence is not piled on, that there aren't stupid gimmick scares and the story itself is much more than it might seem, then give it a go. I'm very glad I did.
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