Amulet (2020)

October 21, 2022 10:28 AM

Homeless ex-soldier Tomasz is offered a place to stay at a decaying house in London, inhabited by a young woman and her dying mother, but he begins to suspect something unnatural is living there, too

Starring Carla Juri, Alec Secăreanu, Imelda Staunton.

Written and directed by Romola Garai.

72% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on Hulu and Kanopy. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (2 comments total)

This is pretty well-made and I will be keeping tabs on Romola Garai, as she seems as talented a director as she is an actor.

That said, how a person feels about this is likely going to be settled by one plot point: we find out well into the film that Tomasz, our POV character/protagonist... raped someone. He's found ways to dismiss it as complicated and not really all that bad, circumstances, BS, BS, whatever, but he is a rapist. It's a helluva thing to drop on an audience mid-way through a film and it was hard for me to stay in after that. I think Garai isn't absolving him in any way, and really, is doing this to make a point 9though it's kind of damning that it isn't precisely clear what she had in mind with this) but it didn't land with me at all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:31 AM on October 21, 2022

Thanks for the heads up. This seemed like my jam until I hit the protagonist being a rapist. Gonna nope out of this one, but I appreciate you letting me make an informed decision rather than going in blind. Also thank you for posting so much good Halloween content!
posted by miss-lapin at 4:19 PM on October 21, 2022