{"id":17911,"date":"2019-02-28T13:16:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T21:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=17911"},"modified":"2019-02-28T13:16:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T21:16:23","slug":"greta-is-creepy-squirmy-and-quirky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=17911","title":{"rendered":"GRETA Is Creepy, Squirmy and Quirky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/24_0008_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10620\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, I&#8217;ve heard more than a few complaints that\nmoms (and parents in general) can really be suffocating. The new\nhorror\/thriller <em>Greta<\/em> uses these feelings and concerns and then takes\nthem to extreme ends. While many of the dramatic beats are admittedly familiar,\nit&#8217;s all done with a dose of grim humor and far more technical flair than other\nmovies of its ilk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Greta-stars-drinking-FIXED-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17912\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frances McCullen (Chlo\u00eb Grace Moretz) is a young woman still\nreeling from the recent death of her mother. Despite attempts made by roommate\nErica (Maika Monroe) to get her out and socializing, Frances\nstill feels lonely and isolated. After finding a forgotten purse on the subway,\nthe protagonist takes it upon herself to return the lost item to its rightful\nowner. The appreciative Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert) introduces herself as a\nwidow, living alone now that her adult daughter has moved to Paris.\nThe pair immediately form a connection, with Frances\nstill feeling a need for motherly support and Greta presumably missing the bond\nformed with her own daughter. If this all sounds like a sweet and gentle little\ndrama, that is decidedly not how events eventually play out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Greta-moretz-elevator-surprised.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17914\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, the story isn&#8217;t the most original in the world. As one\nmight guess, someone isn&#8217;t being truthful about their history or intentions and\nmay even be harboring psychotic tendencies. While the mother-daughter scenario\nis a slight variation on the formula, we&#8217;ve seen films about disturbed stalkers\nand\/or crazy roommates for decades now. However, what sets this picture apart\nare the note-perfect performances, as well as the unsettling mood and tension.\nThis is all thanks to director Neil Jordan (<em>The Company of Wolves<\/em>, <em>The\nCrying Game<\/em>, <em>Interview with the Vampire<\/em>, <em>In Dreams<\/em>, <em>Byzantium<\/em>),\nwho knows his way around suspense and horror pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As mentioned, much of the film relies on its two main\ncharacters and the performers make the most of the material. Moretz plays the\nsweet, earnest, downcast loner hoping to find a surrogate mother quite well and\nis likable in the role. However, Huppert really gets to steal the show,\nrevealing more and more layers of&#8230; well&#8230; insanity as the story progresses.\nIt&#8217;s both disturbing and darkly amusing to see this woman transform a quirky\nand sympathetic eccentric to an unhinged stalker, and finally a deadly and diabolical\nforce. For Greta, no one will defy her unique and terrifying brand of mothering,\nand Huppert goes to town with the part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Greta-Huppert-in-house.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17915\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jordan\nalso uses the camera to excellent effect, first hanging on long shots of Greta\nappearing and disappearing in the frame, then suddenly standing in the street\nand staring at Frances.\nIt all helps to generate tension as more is revealed and events spiral out of\ncontrol. There is also a memorably striking shot of the physical environment\nclosing in on the protagonist, a literal image of how boxed in one can feel\nunder severe supervision. The last third of the movie features a continually\nheightened sense of tension. Only a director this skilled can use both sound\nand image to make a simple shot of a cup spinning in a microwave so darn unsettling.\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As readers might guess, the nature of this type of story\nmeans that several genre tropes come into play towards the close. However, the excellent\ncast and the technical skill on display do make up for its more familiar\nelements. <em>Greta<\/em> is a quirky horror flick that won&#8217;t appeal to everyone,\nbut will provide plenty of squirmy moments for anyone looking to be given the\ncreeps. If nothing else, it certainly provides ample evidence that at some\npoint, we all must cut the proverbial cord and move forward with our lives on\nour own terms. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve heard more than a few complaints that moms (and parents in general) can really be suffocating. The new horror\/thriller Greta uses these feelings and concerns and then takes them to extreme ends. While many of the dramatic beats are admittedly familiar, it&#8217;s all done with a dose of grim humor and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,4273,8647,8649,8653,8654,9319,9966,12939,14272,14659,19420,22825],"class_list":["post-17911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-chloe-grace-moretz","tag-greta","tag-greta-film-review","tag-greta-movie-review","tag-greta-review","tag-horror","tag-isabelle-huppert","tag-maika-monroe","tag-mother-2","tag-neil-jordan","tag-suspense","tag-thriller"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}