At various points in DARK TOUCH, you may find yourself
wondering how people in the film can be so blind to what’s happening? Do they
not know how this works? Have they not been to the movies before?
But then, characters, or more specifically, adults that populate the provincial
Irish hamlet where the story takes place don’t really notice or listen to much
of anything. This seems a major point of Marina De Van‘s stylized riff on
classic horror, taking the ‘little girl besieged by paranormal activity’ formula
and souping it up with a shot of social commentary, if not entirely turning it
inside out.
The little girl in question is Neve, wide eyed and wearing
an expression of perpetual unease. Child actress Missy Keating does a wonderful
job channeling a forlorn sense of knowing into her frail form. She moves
slowly, as if on brittle legs, suggesting she is aged beyond her years.
After the turmoil of a messy opening scene, we get hints of
some kind of trauma. And then, things go ballistic. The film sets itself apart
by not beating around the bush with typical shadowy appearances and slamming
doors. Instead, furniture flies about, explodes, or shoots across rooms to pin
people down, while sharp ends make savage incisions on their targets. It’s the
first of a few impressively wrought and very bloody transgressions.
This incident leaves Neve an orphan, so naturally, a couple
once close to her parents take her in while awaiting a more permanent
arrangement. Remember the adage, ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’ In
effect it is the small town itself with its quaint 1 room schoolhouse that
adopts her.
Naturally things begin to go awry, but not with the usual
plodding about as in your typical house horror film. It’s quite apparent to everyone
in the audience, even to Neve herself who, in a moment of self-awareness,
declares, “I’m the one that does all this.” Yet, it is the adults of the film
who don’t notice because they are too busy being…adults.
Seen as a typical revenge of the abused against the abuser
story, I could see this lacking excitement. But (and perhaps this is some
recent sociocultural studies classes doing the talking) DARK TOUCH seems
preoccupied with a more encompassing notion of how adults act toward children,
which doesn’t end with physical abuse. The act of control, of assuming
knowledge of what’s best without actually listening, seems just as much an
affront. De Van suggests, and none too subtly, how the children here are being
socialized to carry this same pattern out from generation to generation. This
is shown in a (hopefully) soon to be classic “birthday” scene that I found
playfully macabre. As well as scenes
where Neve, assuming an antagonistic role, begins mimicking the ‘adults talk’
she has been hearing around her.
Cataloging the aspects of DARK TOUCH’s production that I
liked could be done routinely enough. Sinister soundtrack. Claustrophobic
spaces. Children bearing creepily threatening likenesses. Checks all around.
Rather, it is the points where DARK TOUCH seems to go ‘off
the rails’, like the aforementioned interior explosions, that I am most
interested in. There is definitely a point where logic falls by the wayside and
events lose their connectivity. A more dreamlike sensibility takes over,
perhaps giving in fully to Neve’s wrathful state of mind. Visually arresting
scenes of destruction more than make up for any loose ends or lacking
explanations. As an impressionistic lashing out against a certain cultural
phenomenon, it makes quite an impact.
DARK TOUCH receives its world premiere at this year’s
Tribeca Film Festival. It plays. Visit the festival website for more details.
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