{"id":23412,"date":"2020-06-30T23:18:11","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T13:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=23412"},"modified":"2020-12-09T23:26:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T13:26:52","slug":"relic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=23412","title":{"rendered":"Relic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tagfilm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"relicposter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Natalie Erika James
\nWriter:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Natalie Erika James, Christian White
\nCast:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote, Robyn Nevin<\/p>\n

Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before.<\/p>\n

A first time Australian director creates a brilliant debut horror film that initially has a limited theatrical release before eventually finding a wider audience thanks to streaming services.<\/p>\n

It happened six years ago with Jennifer Kent\u2019s The Babadook<\/em> and here we are again with Natalie Erika James\u2019 fantastic horror drama Relic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The film begins when widowed septuagenarian Edna goes missing from her remote family home.\u00a0 This prompts her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam to visit Edna\u2019s home to look for her and find out what happened.<\/p>\n

Kay and Sam discover the family home in a disturbing state.\u00a0 Its dark, rundown and feels alive<\/em>, as though something exists within its walls.\u00a0 The place is also in a state of decay with black mould throughout.<\/p>\n

Edna returns home the following morning, barefoot, covered in mud and unable to explain her absence.\u00a0 A physician checks her out and finds nothing wrong with her but for a large black mark on her chest.\u00a0 Alarmed at Edna\u2019s failing memory and the state of the house, Kay plans to move her into an aged care facility, much to the consternation and protestations of Sam and Edna.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"relicscene\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Relic<\/em> is an affecting and well-crafted allegory for dealing with losing a parent or elderly relative to dementia.\u00a0 It becomes pretty clear early into the film what is happening to Edna and that the black mould and supernatural events that take place can be interpreted to be either literal or metaphorical.<\/p>\n

The journey that unfolds in Relic<\/em> has shades of Jonathan Glazer\u2019s sci-fi horror Under the Skin<\/em>.\u00a0 James gradually builds a feeling of dread and tension with the audience as Edna begins to unravel and lash out at Kay and Sam.\u00a0 Relic<\/em> is not like a traditional horror film that builds its mood from jump-scares or its soundtrack.\u00a0 Most of the tension here builds more organically through the verbal exchanges between the three women.<\/p>\n

Eventually, when Relic<\/em> reaches its crescendo, we see something horrific onscreen and yet the moment is executed with a soft touch and empathetic gaze. We are almost relieved at what has happened.\u00a0 For a debut feature, James\u2019 skilful crafting of the final act is remarkably assured.<\/p>\n

This small scale intimate production works in large part thanks to James\u2019 clever writing and direction.\u00a0 I also think the trio of actors \u2013 Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote \u2013 all do exceptionally well in sparse, minimalist conditions.\u00a0 They don\u2019t really have much to work with other than the house itself and one another.<\/p>\n

Relic<\/em> is a sombre, thoughtfully made horror film.\u00a0 An underrated gem in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A daughter, mother and grandmother are haunted by a manifestation of dementia that consumes their family’s home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2946,2945,2947,2944],"class_list":["post-23412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","tag-bella-heathcote","tag-emily-mortimer","tag-natalie-erika-james","tag-relic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23417,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23412\/revisions\/23417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}