Tags:
Film: Proxy
Year: 2013
Director: Zack Parker
Writers: Kevin Donner and Zack Parker
Starring: Alexa Havins, Joe Swanberg and Kristina Klebe
Review:
This was a film that played at an earlier Nightmares Film Festival. Since this is the ten-year anniversary of its release, this was played this year. I wasn’t attending the festival back when it was playing. This was a movie that was on my list of ones to see so I was happy to check it out there. Star Joe Swanberg and co-writer/director were also in attendance.
Synopsis: the life of three parents who have all shared the loss of a child. Motives are not what they seem and sanity is in short supply.
We start at an appointment for Esther Woodhouse (Alexia Rasmussen). She gets an ultrasound where she learns that everything is good. Tragedy strikes though. She’s attacked as she is leaving, killing her baby in the process.
Esther attends support groups to help cope with the loss, where she meets Melanie Michaels (Alexa Havins). Her son was kidnapped and they don’t know what happened. She is there to help Esther get through this tough time. Esther is dating Anika Barön (Kristina Klebe). She is rough around the edges and things about the former’s attack might not be as random as originally thought.
It is here that we shift over to learn more about Melanie. She is married to Patrick (Swanberg). There is an awkward scene where Esther tries to kiss her during one of their visits, but she stops it. This causes Esther to follow Melanie home. Esther sees that Melanie is married and her son is very much alive. Esther sneaks into the house and inflicts tragedy on this family that will change everyone forever.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. What I’ll say is that the premise here is simple. The synopsis does a good job at conveying in a nutshell what we have here. This is a complicated character study. We see how trauma changes people. We also see how far people will go to do certain things for what they want. This explores the darker side of humanity as well, especially after facing trauma.
Where I’ll start then would be the first character we follow. Rasmussen in her portrayal of Esther is great. What I love is that we get the baseline with her as pregnant. She is then attacked which bothered me to see. We learn more about her as things develop. She is seeing Anika who is rough. She is attracted to Melanie who shows her kindness. Esther is darker than we realize though with what she does to change the Michaels’ family dynamic. I also enjoyed Rosemary’s Baby reference with her last name.
Then let’s shift over to Melanie. We originally thought she was a regular in this support group as she was struggling and needed help. She is coming here instead to experience the tragedy of others. She does what she can to help Esther. I almost get the idea it is like ‘stolen valor’. She doesn’t want anything to happen to their son, Peyton (Xavier Parker), but she wants that attention that comes from fitting in. Havins was good here in her portrayal of this complicated character.
The last character to explore is Patrick. What I feel bad for him at first is the fact that he’s just a normal guy and then something traumatic happens. There is an interesting aspect to explore for him when he ends up at the support group. He tells a heartbreaking story about how he sees himself as a father now. That hit me in the feels as I felt guilty coming to this film festival all weekend while my wife was home with our daughter. Swanberg does a great job here as well. There is one other side to him that came from what happened, he is full of rage now.
Since I’ve explored these other characters, let me go over the rest of the cast. Klebe is great here in a bit different role than I’ve seen her play. She is a solid character actor who has been in a handful of things. Her role scared me so I wanted to give credit there. I also thought that Xavier Parker was solid in his minor role as the child to the Michaels. The rest of the cast also rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. What I’ll say is that how this is edited is great. I love that they show us things and set up our expectations to go in different directions the more that we learn. That was powerful. I thought how this was shot was great, so credit the cinematography and the framing. There is one scene early on that was hard to watch, but I like that we don’t see things. It is more left up to our imagination which is good. This has limited effects, but it also doesn’t need them. This is more psychological. The blood and aftereffects of things look good. I also thought that the soundtrack fit what was needed.
In conclusion, I’m glad that I could take this off my list. We are getting a story that is grounded. This could happen. I love the idea that how decisions can affect other people and how these are seen have repercussions as well. The acting is great. Havins, Swanberg and Rasmussen lead the way with Klebe great as a catalyst. This was well made with the cinematography, framing and the minimal effects that were used. I’ll say here that this is a tough watch. It won’t be for everyone just with the heavy subject matter of tragedy and loss. I would recommend giving it a watch though for sure, to horror and non-horror fans alike.
My Rating: 8 out of 10