The Front Room (2024) HAD A LOT GOING FOR IT… - Movie Review

[Music] what's going on everybody welcome back to the channel and in today's video we're going to be talking about the front room based on a short story by Susan Hill this film is written and directed by Max and Sam Edgars and stars people like Brandy Norwood Andrew burnap Katherine Hunter and more so when I heard that we were going to be getting this new film coming from a24 that was written and directed by the half Brothers of Robert Edgars and a very highly acclaimed writer and director of the last decade or so I was pretty excited add on top of that as well is that you have Brandy Norwood as the lead actress in this film who I haven't seen in a film in quite some time and you definitely piqued my interest once I saw the trailer for this film the first time I thought this looks really cool and again having Brandy at the center of it was awesome having grown up as the '90s and early 2000s kid I saw her in tons of movies and TV shows as well as her singing career being a very popular popular thing at that time and while I know she has appeared in things over the course of the last decade or so I'll be honest in saying I really haven't seen those things that she's been a part of so this was the first time in quite some time that I had seen her in something and so to see her in an a24 horror aesthetic kind of film definitely piqued my interest I was definitely all on board and again having the two twin Edgars Brothers involved all of that had me engaged and excited to check out this movie so I just got home from checking it out so let's talk about what it's all about the movie opens up were introduced to Brandy Norwood and her husband Andrew burnap Belinda and Norman the two of them are about to have a baby coming right along the way and not too long into the film unfortunately Norman hears about the passing of his father he ends up learning that he's getting the opportunity to get all of the money that his father and his stepmother had a stepmother that he's not very close to played by Katherine Hunter known as Salange and now the only last request his father had would be for his stepmother to come and live with Belinda and Norman and live the rest of her days this has Norman on edge because he has a history with his stepmother that he's not necessarily proud of things that he's ashamed of and quite frightful of and Belinda is kind of open to the idea there's a big opportunity to have a lot of money she's a much older woman and even though she might be a bit of a nuisance for a little bit why not have her here why not have her as part of the family we're about to have a baby maybe she can help to some degree Norman is hesitant but they decide to do that only for them to quickly discover that it was probably the worst idea that possibly could happen because Solange believes that she is possessed by the Holy Spirit she's incredibly religious and believes that she is able to be the best mother of all time and tries to butt into this relationship this movie has a spiritual element to the mix as well as her also trying to take control as a stepmother over Norman as well as trying to take over what it is to be a mother for the character of Belinda and that's the base premise of the film I won't say too much more as far as what unfolds in this film but it's a pretty interesting in premise and it's something that we've kind of seen in things before where you know two people bring somebody into their home or bring an element into their home that ultimately turns out to kind of go sour and if you've seen the trailer there's definitely a lot of intrigue there it looked like it was going to be definitely leaning into kind of like a religious creepy horror film and you know sometimes those can go either way for me but I was pretty excited to check it out and in terms of the technical aspects that I can praise right out of the gate for this review I think the film is very well shot there's a great sense of tone and atmosphere the overall look of the film is pretty solid there's some great lighting throughout the course of the film and I truly think the greatest part of this film honestly are the performances with Brandy at the center giving a fantastic performance this is arguably the most dramatic role I've ever seen her in and I think that she does a really great job in this film elevating a lot of the material and alongside her her antagonist in the film the character of Solange played by Katherine Hunter I thought she was phenomenal in this film I remember seeing her initially back in one of the Harry Potter films I believe it's order in the Phoenix long time ago even though she does have a fairly brief role there but I was really first introduced to her as an actress where she caught my attention in the Star Wars series Andor and then just last year in poor things with Emma Stone I thought she was great in both of those projects so to see her here I thought she did an incredible job in the performance giving a very offbeat kind of frustratingly obnoxious character that is both kind of gripping to watch because of how crazy she is and the kind of problems she causes in this movie but also somebody you want to slap across the face in so many sequences she captures a great balance of creepy Eerie frustrating annoying I really enjoyed her performance here I think that a lot of what works about this film really comes down to the performances mostly from Brandy and Katherine Hunter I thought the two of them without a doubt were the best parts of this film and they're really aided by the fact that the film is well made on the other technical aspects in terms of camera work music and overall sound design I thought all of that really worked Andrew burnap as Norman I thought was pretty solid but there wasn't really much to his character if I'm completely and utterly honest he was a character that just felt like that husband that was there but often times he was a frustrating part of this film for me because that we first meet him and he's very hesitant to the idea of his stepmother moving in we learned that there's a troubled past there he is a more nuanced character only for there to be random scenes where he doesn't feel as bothered maybe he feels a little bit more loving other scenes where it kind of is telling Brandy hey just don't let her bother you it's not a big deal even though the next scene he could be far more worried and frightful of what's going on often times it didn't feel like his character was consistent over the course of the entire screenplay which I did find frustrating as a viewer and so with all that said there's a lot about this film I think is really solid when it comes down to the technical aspects the performances despite any frustrations I may have had with certain elements when it really comes down to it this was clearly made on a smaller budget and made to be a film that takes place in a few singular locations mostly like a dining table as well as near a staircase and a couple of rooms that are in the house there isn't a whole lot of locations and settings that this film has which is okay with me but ultimately un fortunately I felt this film felt very syy over the course of the runtime while I was impressed with a lot of the moments of this film for me it felt more like a movie that had a really solid premise great performers that understood that premise and understand what it needed but the fact that this is based on a short story almost made more sense to me as the movie was playing out there were sequences that really worked that really capitalized on the Eerie tone and the very uncomfortable nature of this situation very well only for there to be other scenes that would feel very reminiscent of those other scenes and it just kind of at a certain point kind of lost Steam for me about 45 minutes to an hour into the movie I just found myself thinking that a lot of these sequences felt very similar with certain moments definitely elevating things there are moments where the film escalates to another level of danger or frustration for our characters but by the time we got to the end I kind of just Shrugged my shoulders at the way that the film ended it felt wildly predictable and there wasn't really an abundance about it that ever really captivated me on a thematic level I think the film has a lot to say when it comes down to motherhood not only in the case of somebody like brandy who is dealing with the stress and the trauma of bringing a new child into the world and the history that they've had before that that is leading up to this I think this film has a lot to say about the trials and tribulations that any woman who's bringing a child into the world has to deal with on top of that you also have the pressures that come from the outside world often times things like mother-in-laws or somebody's own mother who may try to intervene a lot and try to mother that child for them and I think most people who have a child can say yeah I love the fact that I have a grandma or you know my mom or a stepmom or a you know mother-in-law who can step in and kind of help me along the way maybe give me a couple of answers here and there but unfortunately there are a lot of situations where somebody tries to come in and mother their child or try to control the situation and I think that this film tackles that kind of relationship pretty interestingly despite the fact that this of course takes it to a bit of a extreme add in the religious elements here to there were some cool moments but I ultimately found that outside of the Thematic elements that I can speak on here that were quite interesting and the good performances it never really felt like they took that base premise of the film and truly elevated it to a narrative and characters that I ever found myself truly compelled by I saw it in a theater that wasn't super packed but I got to hear some of the reactions in the theater there were a couple of moments of literal potty humor in the film that almost worked more as shock value they got a couple of laughs and a couple of O throughout the audience but there was never really any of these moments that I ever felt really captured me and I just felt the energy in the room didn't feel like people were really Capt activated as soon as the credit started rolling for this film not only myself but many others in the theater just got up and just started walking out it didn't really feel like a film where there was a lot of discussion going on in the theater where people were really captivated what was going on and that was at least maybe just what maybe I was projecting that but that's what I felt I was really impressed again with a lot of their performances the overall General premise of the film the tone the atmosphere I think that these two Edgar's Brothers definitely have learned a lot in terms of the look and feel of a film from what their brother has done but when it came down to the overall narrative so much of it felt wildly redundant and while there are interesting themes that I think this film tries to pack into its runtime it just never really created a storyline that really executed on those themes in a way that catch something for you to think about by the time you left it felt very surface leveled in a lot of ways and I feel like this should have remained a short story and ultimately might have been far better as a short film so that's going to be my thoughts on the front room I wish I enjoyed this film a lot more I was really excited about it as I mentioned earlier in the review I just never really found myself captivated or caring about the Journey of these characters and the ending just had me go well saw that coming and that happened and the movie's over so a big thanks to you guys for watching leave your thoughts down below were you a fan of the front room are you with me and you just weren't really feeling it you kind of were hoping it was better but it just didn't click with you whatever the case may be leave any and all comments down below and I'll see you beautiful people in the next one bye-bye