Fantasia Film Festival 2023 Film Review - Aporia

What if you could go back and change a catastrophic event that devastated your family? But to do so would have a lethal effect on the perpetrator of the event. Would you worry about the effect on other aspects of your and your loved ones' lives? Would you care about the consequences on the perpetrator's  family? Does making one change in the recent past have a lesser ripple than multiple or changes further back in time?  These are the questions debated and agonized over amongst the characters in Writer-Director Jared Moshe's latest film Aporia. 

Sophie Rice (Judy Greer) has seen her life crumble since the death of her husband Mal (Edi Gthegi) He was killed by a drunk driver while crossing the street and despite showing up for repeated court hearings the driver is not being punished. Her daughter Riley (Faithe Herman) is skipping classes and has lost interest in her one true passion science that she shared with her Dad. Sophie works in a Long-Term Car facility. She is dedicated to her patients but the strain over everything has grinded her down. Her friend Jabir (Payman Maadi) who was best friends with Mal, bonding through their love of science. Jabir reveals to Sophie a machine that he worked on with Mal. It looks like a 70s muscle car engine on a metal stand with too many batteries and wires attached. But the machine can reach into the past and send a projectile to a specific GPS-targeted location with the force of a bullet. The payload able to write the wrong that devastated Sophie's family before the accident even occurred. When it works the real hard questions begin. 

Moshe crafts a practical science fiction film with zero VFX.  A time travel story where the main characters never leave the room where the machine fires up and sends its accelerated particle projectiles back into the past then the participants step out of the room to an altered timeline all around them. The differences can be subtle; a change of duties at the Long Term Care facility, different living room furniture and throw pillows picked put by your returning spouse, or something greater and vastly more significant. The homemade science project has moved from the theoretical to real-world impact bringing with it life-altering implications. The foreboding soundtrack that underpins the story is a constant reminder of the high stakes and potential consequences of everyone's actions. 

Judy Greer commands the screen in the role of Sophie. She is overwhelmed with grief at the outset of the film. She is not getting justice. Her daughter is spiraling downward losing interest in everything and anything she used to hold dear. Edi Gathegi serves s connective tissue is in the role of Mal. He understands exactly what has occurred when Sophie and Jabir level with him on what they have done? His scientific mind works out all of the combinations and permutations. Faithe Herman plays multiple versions of the couple's daughter each time the machine is fired up. She is despondent at first then downright joyful once Sophie tracks her down in a new timeline after emerging from Jabir's household lab. The bottom line appears to be firing it up once you can get the desired effect. But human nature won't stop there meaning cataclysmic change is likely inevitable. 

*** 1/2  Out of 4. 

Aporia | Jared Moshe | U.S. A. | 2023 | 103 Minutes. 

Tags: Drunk Driver, Widow, Grief, Court Case, Long Term Care, Physicist, Time Travel, Rocket Ships, Ponzi Scheme, Birthday Party, Hamlet. 

 

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 Film Review - Raging Grace

Grace (Jaeden Paige Boadilla) is a curious, impetuous, prankster of a schoolgirl living in London, England with her mother Joy (Max Eigenmann). Joy is an undocumented Filipina immigrant working cleaning homes and as a caregiver to London's upper crust trying to gain funds to make her residency in London legal. Resources stretched, she often resorts to squatting with her daughter in the homes of clients that she knows are on vacation. On occasion only managing to vacate the premises moments before the family turns the key to enter the home upon their return. She is getting close to her intended dollar target but her source to get her papers has given a fast-approaching deadline to provide the money in total. Into this vulnerable timeline, a too- good-to-be true job offer pops up.  Katherine (Leanne Best) the Niece of a rich dying landowner (David Hayman) will pay Joy a large salary in cash to clean her Uncle's large country estate and care for him. The only task  Katherine will not give up is the administration of medication to her Uncle. Joy will get her own large room with an ensuite as part of the arrangement. Joy moves in sneaking Grace into the home in a large suitcase. Katherine does not want Joy to use Employer housekeeper formalities but constantly snaps at Joy when she feels that she steps out of line. 

The job is going well until Grace while exploring the home from the shadows notices the real reason that Katherine wanted to maintain medication duty. Joy dismisses her daughter's concerns at first but begins to notice odd things as well. When Katherine has to leave for business Joy becomes in charge of the pills and makes some changes that lead to surprising results especially to Katherine upon her return home. Joy is firmly on Mr. Garrett's side seeing him as the victim then slowly sees a different dynamic as she learns more about her new aging benefactor. A throwaway comment about cock fighting in the Philippines can be seen later upon reflection as a metaphor for the Upper-Class view of those in a lower state. Mr. Garrett continues to charm Grace. Giving her freedom on the grounds, listening intently to her in conversations. He eventually becomes a source of conflict between Mother and Daughter. 

Writer/Director Paris Zarcilla brings two completely opposite worlds together at an English country estate in this film. Joy and Grace are transients hovering near the lower rungs of society. They operate  at the grey edges to survive and get along. Mr. Garrett and his niece Katherine have a large Estate to roam with pictures of relatives three and four generations back staring at them on the walls. World travelers, Barristors, Old money. The top rung squarely below them. Zarcilla flips the dynamic on its head. The working class class immigrants don't need the money of the rich. Rather the rich need them to do just about everything for them and their families from cradle to grave.

Max Eigenmann is in just about every frame of the film as Joy. She may seem passive and obedient but underneath that public front, she is adaptive, smart,and a fierce advocate for her daughter. Jaeden Paige Boadilla steals just about every scene she is in as Grace. Leanne Best and David Hayman shine in their supporting roles. Natural villains of the piece, they both have nuance and moments when they play ally to Joy and Grace. Their scenes together are a battle of equal imposing wills, with the upper hand changing regularly throughout the film. Raging Grace is a horror-thriller with a strong socioeconomic thread at its centre. Well written, and shot featuring a superb staccato score in the Hitchcock tradition. It's a film that is well worth a watch. 

***1/2 Out of Four. 

Raging Grace | Paris Zarcilla | U.K. | 2023 | 99 Minutes. 

Tags: Domestic worker, Philippines, Single Mother, Citizenship, Terminal Cancer, Caregiver, Uncle, Niece, Country Estate, Over Medicating, Declared Dead. Immigration Authorities. Church Choir.