Tags:
Film: The Shade
Year: 2023
Director: Tyler Chipman
Writer: Tyler Chipman
Starring: Chris Galust, Laura Benanti and Mariel Molino
Review:
This was a film that I got the chance to see via screener thanks to Kim from dominion3. The title looked interesting and the bit from the press release that I read, I figured I’d check this out. It does help with making my end of year list to mix in these independent films to ensure that I’m not missing out on any gems. I did come into this without knowing too much to be as blank a slate as possible.
Synopsis: following the loss of his father, a grieving twenty-year-old struggles to hold his family together as an unspeakable darkness plagues his older brother.
We start this with seeing a truck driving along a dark road. In the cab is Randy Beckman (Robert Marsella). There’s a boy with him. They stop at a cemetery. Randy gets out and pours something on a grave. He then lights it on fire. When this happens, hooded figures appear from the surrounding woods. Randy then shoots himself in the chest and the fire catches on to his clothes.
Ryan (Chris Galust) then wakes up from this nightmare. Randy was his father. His and the life of his family was turned upside down when Randy killed himself. He did this in his closet and did it by shooting himself in the chest. Renee (Laura Benanti) is the mother and she’s doing what she can to make ends meet. Ryan works at a local pizzeria and is an apprentice at a tattoo shop. He also watches over his younger brother, James (Sam Duncan). Ryan does have a girlfriend, Alex Ayala (Mariel Molino), who tries to help keep him grounded. He also sees a therapist to deal with his issues, Dr. Huston (Michael Boatman).
Things take a turn for the family when Ryan’s older brother is released. I don’t recall if this was from jail or from a mental hospital. Regardless, Jason (Dylan McTee) is unstable. He butts heads with Ryan, as his younger brother is taking on more responsibility with their father being gone. Renee, needing to work as much as she does, contributes as well. We get to see that this family loves each other, despite all these issues.
It takes an even darker tone when Jason listens to metal music in his room loudly. This wakes up Ryan who asks him to turn it down. He peaks in the room and sees a dark entity hiding in the closet. Jason appears and attacks Ryan for going into his room, which leads to a tussle. Ryan then starts to see this creature and it freaks him out. He questions his sanity when no one else sees it. Tragedy continues to strike this family and this entity could be contributing.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this film tells a story that we’ve seen before. There is this family that has experienced tragedy, we have an unreliable lead character who we know is dealing with depression and possible hallucinations. There is this entity that we don’t know if it is real or just his imagination. I do appreciate the deeper allegory here, even though it is something that we’ve seen before.
Let’s then delve deeper here into our lead character since I’d say this is a study of him. We see that due to everything that has happened, he’s forced to grow up faster than normal. His father killed himself so they aren’t bringing in as much money as they used to. Renee is forced to pick up shifts, meaning that Ryan watches the younger brother. He has a dream of becoming a tattoo artist so he does apprentice tasks at one. He also has a job at night. There is a therapist that is helping him, but Ryan isn’t always taking his medication. Alex is there to help Ryan and wants to be his rock, but we see him pushing her away. This is a classic sign for people with mental illness. There is more to it as well, since we see similar things with Jason, who probably is dealing with his own issues. Since Ryan is our lead, we get glimpses of this for his older brother, but we aren’t following him.
What I’m saying here parlays into the entity. It is listed in the credits as a harpy and played by Charlotte Stickles. I thought the make-up there was great. It’s also creepy that it is done up white and then we see it in the shadows. It creates a stark contrast that is jarring. That is a perk in this film’s favor. Now we don’t learn much about this creature. What the film is alluding to is that this is what made Randy do what he did. You can then read this as there isn’t really a monster. This is how I see it, that this entity is a manifestation of depression and grief, probably even stress as well. It pushes those that it haunts to kill themselves. I’m not the biggest fan of going this route, only because we’ve seen this done. Deciding to go this way doesn’t ruin it for me. I could also get wrong. This is just how I read it.
I think I’ll then go over to discuss the acting performances. Galust is solid as our lead. He has a good look about him and I think he does well at conveying the different emotions he needs to. We see them happy, depressed and stressed out, to just name things that stuck out. I also like Molino as his girlfriend. She’s attractive, which is good. It is also good that she has depth to her. We see her upset with Ryan for shutting her out. She is also snarky and I appreciate that. Duncan is solid for the younger brother. McTee also works as this older sibling who bothers Ryan. Seeing them clash adds tension. There is also an emotional thing that happens to him. I’d also say that Benanti, Brandan Sexton III, Boatman and the rest of the cast push Ryan as well as James to where they end up.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I’d say that the cinematography was good to capture where this is set. It is a small town where everyone knows everyone. That made me think where I’m from. It also has rural areas where things could happen without people knowing. That’s a good touch. I’ll credit the framing, especially to ramp up the tension when we see this monster. It is creepy and that made me uncomfortable in the best way possible. I’d say the soundtrack and design worked for what was needed. I do have a glaring issue though. This runs too long. It is over two hours and it needs to be trimmed. This hurts the pacing and also causes it to lose tension.
In conclusion, this is a decent low budget effort on telling a heavy story. I do love this idea of an entity that preys on people that are hurting. There is something dark about that. I’m not entirely sure the monster that we’re seeing is real, but more of a manifestation for the audience. I do think that the acting was solid. Galust leads the way with everyone pushing him to where he ends up. I’ll credit the cinematography, framing and the look of the monster as bright spots for the filmmaking. This does run too long though. It needs to be trimmed to less than 105 minutes or if they could get it to 90, it would work better. With how it is, I would still recommend it if you wanted a take on how our mental illness can affect us.
My Rating: 6 out of 10