She Watches Blindly
*Seen at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival.
There’s a lot to process about this film. It starts off feeling supernatural in nature, but as the layers are removed from Bryan Tan’s story, we find that there’s a simpler narrative at work, but a no less unsettling one. It’s a haunting and devastating film.
Beth (Emily Dunlop), Earl (Justin Torrence) and their newborn Matthew are about to go out of town with their friends, Anna (Kate Kovach) and James (Sean MacLean). All of the sudden, Beth begins to have a mental break. They return home, and Earl tries to calm Beth down while Anna and James look after Matthew. Beth etches a number into an end table; it turns out it is for a therapist, Dr. Abbott (Rick Andosca). As he begins to unravel the story, there is more to this than what it initially appears.
Bryan Tan’s control to allow this film to unfold, and ultimately come to a place where it feels more grounded than something couched in genre is kind of remarkable. We’re still left questioning the reality of Beth’s psychological struggles, but like Aronofsky’s “mother!”- though not as sledgehammer intense with symbolism- the closer the film gets to ideas of female anxiety, the stress of motherhood and fractured relationships, the better. It’s interesting how everyone feels like they are vital to the story; while Dr. Abbott ends up feeling like a co-lead with Beth and Earl, Anna and James have an important part to play with this film’s emotional connection, and how it all comes together in a tense, but emotionally releasing way. “She Watches Blindly” leaves you blindsided, and profoundly relieved that when things seem at their worst, most people will step up, and do what needs done.
