Reviews

I'm a film grad student in my final year. I saw THE HARBINGER at the Dances With Films Festival in L. A. I have now seen it 8 to 10 times. Our assignment was to break down and give an overall grade to a film, scene by scene, analyzing acting/character (A+), plot/structure (A+), and story/theme (A). I will say this film gets better and better every time I see it. The most difficult thing about backloaded exposition is putting enough bread crumbs in the first half to create a solid trajectory of reveals. I think they've done a brilliant job and the following is why. Here is my breakdown, comparing what I felt the first time watching (without spoilers) and repeated viewings (with spoilers). Imdb maxes out at 10,000 characters per post, so I've broken this into 10 parts.

OPENING SCENE - WITHOUT SPOILERS: A man enters a room with a hanging body and picks up a relic below the body. He is guilt-ridden with tears in his eyes and leaves. We are shown a definition of the word "Harbinger", which in this mythology is a person. If someone is really paying attention, the next time we see the same relic, we know the man already knows what the object is because we've seen him previously handle it. But we don't know why he seems perplexed by it.

WITH SPOILERS: This is the lead of the film, Daniel. He is The Harbinger. In this mythology, a Harbinger's job is to drop an evil "serpent relic" in close quarters to where someone is. The evil influences them to commit suicide, condemning their soul to the devil for eternity. Daniel was roped in and busted for a Ponzi scheme, but Lucifer told him he could avoid poverty, prison, and would pay back all his investors on one condition - He had to be a Harbinger. The dead man is Daniel's business partner who roped him into the Ponzi. Besides the Ponzi scheme, the wife of the businessman was also physically abused by him, which is what pushed Daniel off the fence, deciding to drop the relic in his partner's office. This is the only person Daniel can bring himself to perform the deed on. As a result of Daniel's ineffectiveness, Lucifer (Luc) then holds Daniel's daughter Rosalie's soul hostage in order to incentivize him to be The Harbinger. Throughout the film, Daniel will try to find another way to save his daughter without having to be The Harbinger.

2 - FUNERAL OF THE MAN WHO HANGED HIMSELF - WITHOUT SPOILERS: The widow of Dan's partner (who has a black eye) thanks Daniel and his family for coming. Daniel's creepy daughter (Rosalie) says the man is doomed in Hell. Something is clearly wrong with this daughter. Both parents react as if, "here we go again." WITH SPOILERS: Dan's daughter Rosalie is already empty. Her soul is gone at the beginning of the film.

3 - PSYCHIATRIST OFFICE AT SCHOOL - WITHOUT SPOILERS: Dan stares at a soccer snowglobe, and has a flashback to when the daughter was normal. Happier times. The doctor asks Dan about his previous address, and he's evasive. Why is he not forthcoming? The doctor tells the parents the daughter may be schizophrenic. The parents don't seem concerned. Why? The dad says he's being sent to another town for work. They leave. We know the parents know something we don't.

WITH SPOILERS: The parents aren't concerned because they already know what's wrong with the daughter. The dad lies about the address because he's a Harbinger. When Dan says "I get sent," he means the devil sends him to a town to be a Harbinger. This is the first of multiple examples of superb acting on the parents' part. They must play that they have a secret, are stuck, in pain, and pretend they're not.

4 - DRIVING IN CAR WITH FLASHBACK TO SONG - WITHOUT SPOILERS: Dan flashes to his playful daddy/daughter song they always sing together. He intentionally gets her name wrong in the song, she corrects him, and they playfully both say, "Oops." We know things were good. Now they're not.

WITH SPOILERS: This is significant because it's a running theme throughout the movie. The song is the main link Dan had to his (former) daughter and the strongest driving force within him to find a way to save her. In her current state, he fails at getting her to sing. At the end, they get to continue the song.

5 - ENTERING THE TOWN OF ST. HERALDSON - GAS STATION - WITHOUT SPOILERS: A weird gas station cashier tries to stop Dan from taking a Native American business card. Both Dan and the gas station attendant seem odd in this exchange.

WITH SPOILERS: The town of St. Heraldson is Hell on Earth, a town full of ex harbingers where harbingers are sent to be retired (meaning doomed for eternity). The Native American Reservation is also in this town. Its mythological rules do not adhere to the Christian mythological rules. Neither mythology trumps the other. In other words, Lucifer has no power on Native land, and vice versa. The gas station cashier and everyone on the Christian side of St. Heraldson fear and loathe the Natives and their land. This is why the cashier grabs the card out of Dan's hand (A, because he doesn't want Dan going to that land for help, and B, because he wants to keep Dan on the track of being a Harbinger). Daniel discovering this card is not an accident. Floating Hawk, a Native "Seer", lives at the Reservation and "sees" Daniel coming, thus finding a way to get this card to him one way or another. When Dan says to the cashier, "Trust me, I'm the one doing you the favor," he means "I could kill you if I wanted to" (obviously not knowing this is Hell on Earth and he's been sent to his doom). The actors play this perfectly.

6 - IN CAR - ARRIVING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD - WITHOUT SPOILERS: Parents say how lovely the town is with regret.

With spoilers: They express regret because they know they are doomed to never be able to live in any town ever again.

7 - MEET BETTY GOSS - WITHOUT SPOILERS: Judgemental, invasive busy-body Betty asks nosy questions and makes sure the town will keep "watch" over them. You will notice the first example of someone's reaction to Theresa's rosary. Betty is obviously not a fan.

WITH SPOILERS: Because St. Heraldson is Hell on Earth and the town is full of ex harbingers, Betty, is of course, no exception. I love watching her performance knowing that. Same with all the townspeople. Betty talks up the Church in the town, encouraging Theresa to go - The reason being the Church is also within Hell on Earth and instead of being a house of God is a house of evil (will wait for Church scene for elaboration).

8 - IN THE HOUSE THAT NIGHT - WITHOUT SPOILERS: When Theresa tells Daniel she would like to settle down in a town like that, Dan reminds her he's "here for work. Don't get attached." He has a nice tender moment with his daughter that "soon this will all be fixed." WITH SPOILERS: He's lying to his daughter. There is no way out, but he's desperate enough to try anything.

9 - ROSALIE CRUSHES FROG - WITHOUT SPOILERS: Rosalie has up to this point only said inappropriate things. This is the first time she has shown with actions she's not right.

WITH SPOILERS: While not possessed per se, she is completely vacant (because her soul has been taken) and devoid of empathy.

10 - DAN CLEANS ROSALIE AND SEES CREEPY MAN FOR FIRST TIME - WITHOUT SPOILERS: We see a Creepy guy in a trenchcoat just watching Dan & Rosalie from a distance. Is this The Harbinger?

WITH SPOILERS: Creepy Man is a red herring. Unbeknownst to Dan, this is an angel, assigned to protect Harbingers. He is forbidden from any contact with Harbingers, or be damned himself. But he does his best throughout the film to help save the daughter through other means of communication.

11 - MEET THE NEIGHBOR, JOHN - WITHOUT SPOILERS: There's a knock at the door. Dan & Theresa seem uneasy about this. Neighbor introduces himself. There is an odd moment where he asks what brings the couple to town from Des Moines. Dan says, "How did you know we came from Des Moines?" (Awkward pause). "License plate." We feel uneasy about this exchange. Trust will have to be earned.

WITH SPOILERS: Dan & Theresa are already living a life of hell. The knock at the door, in their minds, is Lucifer. They are tormented by always knowing he'll turn up at any time. They are relieved when the person at the door is John. However, John is the devil's right hand man in a town full of people from Hell. John's job is to ingratiate himself to the Snyders as quickly as possible so he can make their lives a living hell (literally). This is true for all the townsfolk. They are also the source of well-done subtle humor in the film. The town is sometimes theatrical or just off. I personally love the cat and mouse game that begins with John and Dan here. Dan, always hiding who he really is, and John, the same. And I love John's line, "I didn't come here to take over the world or anything (laughs)."

11.1 - POV OF SNYDER HOUSE - WITHOUT SPOILERS: Not a scene, but a creepy shot. We see the Snyder house at night, from someone's POV.

WITH SPOILERS: I love the fact that this can be either Creepy Man (angel) or the devil. They both work because Creepy Man is always watching and the devil is in the next scene (unseen) with Rosalie, causing her to have a quick series of visions.