Capital Celluloid 2012 - Day 39: Wednesday Feb 8

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Durkin, 2011): On general release

On a quiet night on the repertory front here's a recommendation for a film released on Friday February 3 and out on general release. This was one of the hits of the London Film Festival and widely regarded as an impressive debut movie from Sean Durkin.

If you missed critic Danny Leigh's take on BBC Film 2012 on Wednesday night then here's a chance to catch his rave review. You can watch it here on BBC i-player (from 17:00).

Chicago Reader review:

'The horror aesthetic of B-movie producer Val Lewton—that the unseen is more frightening than the seen—is carried to a merciless extreme in this unnerving debut feature by writer-director Sean Durkin. An alluring young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes from the wilderness dominion of a charismatic cult leader (John Hawkes) and hides out with her older sister (Sarah Paulson) and brother-in-law (Hugh Dancy) at their secluded vacation home. As the narrative slips back and forth between her increasingly awkward stay with the couple and her gradual initiation into the cult two years earlier, Durkin reveals how the sisters have been pulled in opposite directions by the death of their parents. But the story structure also nurtures a creeping, finally unbearable dread that may have you looking over your shoulder all the way home.'
JR Jones


Here is the trailer.

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