This film having taking cues from Film makers such as David Lynch, Richard Kelly, and Adrian Lyne, still manages to hold its own unique eeriness and maintain attention from the viewer.
Spoilers:
This movie moves quite a bit, and is very tricky in that the most active character Alex is not even a real entity, but a complex manifestation of Scarlett's last living moments. The movie takes a classic approach to letting the story "unravel" to finally understand what actually is happening as the movie wraps up.
My take:
Scarlett is a young woman who when she was growing up tortured for several years and then eventually murdered her handicapped cousin by burying him alive in a open fire pit. She made up a cover story to family and police that a burglar had broken in, killed her cousin and proceeded to rape her. Her story was believed by all, and even assured her sympathy and support.
The movie we see, is in her subconscious during her suicide by pills and alcohol. Even though she has overdosed, she is not brain dead and therefore piecing through a land of guilt, confusion and retribution.
Alex is only a piece of her mind, and actually a part of Scarlett. Alex represents her confusion, her guilt, her comfort and finally her penance and self realization.
Right at the beginning when they get to the Ranch, you see Scarlett immediately jumps right in to the thick of it by asking Alex what the most horrible thing he has even done. She proceeds to tell the detailed horrific story of her cousin, (leaving out the murder at this time) and then quickly pretend it was just a joke. This being the first moments of her being honest with herself of what happened, and yet not being fully ready to deal with it. Not long after,you see her start to break down with fear and sadness as she is starting to let in the truth of her guilt and horrible actions. With these feelings fear and confusion almost innocent, she finds comfort and is drawn to her father, represented by the Preacher who first appears on their hotel TV.
The entity of Scarlett disappears, and then the part of her that is Alex now has to piece apart the confusion, and along the way is faced with her biggest fears, her fate, her dark side, which is the hooded man that "buries" people alive. (this is no coincidence)
The merging of all the cloudy pieces comes when Alex finally goes to her house to understand more of whats going on. We find that the image of Alex, may have been just a neighbor she saw in her waking life that she had a small attraction or obsessiveness with, but no real relationship. She acknowledges that he is in her closet, and demands for him to just take what he is there for. Hence, rape her. She is expecting to be punished, by having all of her own lies and actions come back and really happen to her, thus her lying about a man murdering the cousin and raping her. He reluctantly denies her, and then accuses him of raping her yet again, when her father enters the room.
Then Alex takes Scarlett to her old house where she had murdered her cousin, and where she had lied to cover it up. All of her guilty truths are told, and Alex punishes her but burying her in the dirt. This is way she felt she deserved to be punished, and therefore can die in peace. They then show her true body in the conscious world die in a bed after the overdose.
A well done film that you may need to watch twice to see all of the hidden potential. Great acting on all parts, and a great story.
Spoilers:
This movie moves quite a bit, and is very tricky in that the most active character Alex is not even a real entity, but a complex manifestation of Scarlett's last living moments. The movie takes a classic approach to letting the story "unravel" to finally understand what actually is happening as the movie wraps up.
My take:
Scarlett is a young woman who when she was growing up tortured for several years and then eventually murdered her handicapped cousin by burying him alive in a open fire pit. She made up a cover story to family and police that a burglar had broken in, killed her cousin and proceeded to rape her. Her story was believed by all, and even assured her sympathy and support.
The movie we see, is in her subconscious during her suicide by pills and alcohol. Even though she has overdosed, she is not brain dead and therefore piecing through a land of guilt, confusion and retribution.
Alex is only a piece of her mind, and actually a part of Scarlett. Alex represents her confusion, her guilt, her comfort and finally her penance and self realization.
Right at the beginning when they get to the Ranch, you see Scarlett immediately jumps right in to the thick of it by asking Alex what the most horrible thing he has even done. She proceeds to tell the detailed horrific story of her cousin, (leaving out the murder at this time) and then quickly pretend it was just a joke. This being the first moments of her being honest with herself of what happened, and yet not being fully ready to deal with it. Not long after,you see her start to break down with fear and sadness as she is starting to let in the truth of her guilt and horrible actions. With these feelings fear and confusion almost innocent, she finds comfort and is drawn to her father, represented by the Preacher who first appears on their hotel TV.
The entity of Scarlett disappears, and then the part of her that is Alex now has to piece apart the confusion, and along the way is faced with her biggest fears, her fate, her dark side, which is the hooded man that "buries" people alive. (this is no coincidence)
The merging of all the cloudy pieces comes when Alex finally goes to her house to understand more of whats going on. We find that the image of Alex, may have been just a neighbor she saw in her waking life that she had a small attraction or obsessiveness with, but no real relationship. She acknowledges that he is in her closet, and demands for him to just take what he is there for. Hence, rape her. She is expecting to be punished, by having all of her own lies and actions come back and really happen to her, thus her lying about a man murdering the cousin and raping her. He reluctantly denies her, and then accuses him of raping her yet again, when her father enters the room.
Then Alex takes Scarlett to her old house where she had murdered her cousin, and where she had lied to cover it up. All of her guilty truths are told, and Alex punishes her but burying her in the dirt. This is way she felt she deserved to be punished, and therefore can die in peace. They then show her true body in the conscious world die in a bed after the overdose.
A well done film that you may need to watch twice to see all of the hidden potential. Great acting on all parts, and a great story.