Dark (2015)

Methodically paced, psychological thriller with a riveting performance by Whitney Able. This is an existential, character driven piece, deeply layered with subtext which can't be fully appreciated upon first viewing. It's more experiential than plot driven. In that aspect it reminded me of many superb thrillers from the 60's like "Don't Look Now" and "Repulsion". Basile has a very distinct vision here and I hope this underrated film will find it's audience. Recommended for a film literate viewer.

Kate Naylor (Whitney Able) lives with her loving girlfriend (Alex Breckenridge) in NYC. It is clear Kate has all kind of issues and may be unstable. When NYC goes dark during the 2003 blackout, our authors spring into action and use this as symbolism as emotionally and mentally, Kate is in a dark place. Get it. It would be soooo Indie clever if it hadn't been done a gazillon times before.What we don't find out is Kate's real issues as she describes her life's problem in the abstract. We hear her say these clever Indie lines like, "I tried to be different" and my all time favorite, worth Indie extra bonus credit "I'm the real me." We have a long drawn out boring scene, not to be confused with the rest of the film outside of the opening lesbian sex scene, where our yoga instructor is smoking a cigarette while talking to a guy who may or may not be there. Here she is saying lines that don't match up with her lips, i.e. she has a cigarette in her mouth while we hear her speaking. That is fine, but I don't know is this by design, i.e. a clue that the guy is not there and she is crazy, or is this some bad over dubbing because they decided to write in some lines post production.If you like watching people buy paper towels and crazy people talking to themselves but not really saying anything, then this film is for you. I couldn't get past someone creating another artsy film and just going through the motions they learned the first day of film school.Guide: Swearing, F/F sex nudity (Whitney Able, Alex Breckenridge)

This film rather took me by surprise. I went into this with no preconceived notions other than it was about the North American blackout of 2003 and had Alexandra Breckenridge (The Walking Dead) in it. This film hit me on a deeper level than expected and stayed with me for quite a few days after seeing it. It's portrayal of a young woman with mental issues, suffering from a very deep depression played to perfection by Whitney Able (Monsters) related to me. Knowing someone personally who dealt with depression, I thought the movie captured that state of mind completely. The subtle depiction of the lead, Kate's, slowly devolving emotional state through to it's brutal ending was uneasy to watch. I can see why some people may find the movie slow but I was gripped throughout because of the lead character. The acting is superb as well as the "jump cut" editing style and the cinematography, naturalistic and beautiful. The sound design, particularly in the second half, was really well done, especially considering most indie films usually fail on sound. It makes NY seem like a very intimidating place, at least in the main character's mind. Even though the film is set in NYC, it feels very much like a European film. Having grown up in the UK and loving a lot of art house films, most European cinema has never been plot-focused. European directors usually focus on the accurate representation of internal states, rather than external drives. This film's goal can be described in the same way and pulls it off quite successfully. It's definitely a movie that will not please everyone. It's not "entertaining" in the traditional movie sense but rather a cathartic, intimate experience for 93 minutes. If you like arty cinema with dark subject matter, you'll absolutely appreciate this indie gem.

A young bisexual former-model-turned-yoga-instructor (Whitney Able) is in a deteriorating relationship with her girlfriend (Alexandra Breckenridge). When her girlfriend leaves town in the midst of an unresolved argument, she is left alone in their run-down NYC loft just as the famous blackout of 2003 occurs. She has encounters with a couple of potentially sinister men--a weird, overly friendly neighbor (Brendan Sexton III) and a guy she unsuccessfully tries to pick up at the bar. She may be being stalked and externally threatened in real-life, but judging from some quick-cut flashbacks and scars on her wrists, the worst danger may really be in her own mind. . .I suspect when this movie is more widely released, it may have some trouble finding an audience because it looks enough like a horror movie to chase away a lot of the art crowd, but a lot of horror fans may not appreciate its artier trappings and its slow, subtle and largely psychological approach to horror. This movie falls in the school of horror typified by films like "Repulsion", "The Tenant", "Let's Scare Jessica to Death", and "Session 9". These kind of films are rarely made, especially these days. The last two I remember both came from south of the US border--"Magic, Magic", which I thought was unfairly panned, and "La Casa Muda", which was successful enough to inspire an American remake, but was then overshadowed by the failure of said remake. Personally though, I LOVE this brand of arty, slow-simmering horror. I wish they made more of them, but they are both hard to pull off and a hard-sell once produced.The two actresses here are real revelations, especially Whitney Able. They are both known as typical "hot" actresses who take their clothes off a lot (actually they do that here too in an opening sex scene), but they have both gone through some physical changes for this movie and look quite convincing as a NY lesbian couple. Breckenridge's acting is spot-on in her few early scenes, and after she goes, Able has to really carry this movie herself, perhaps even more than Catherine Deneuve does in "Repulsion", where SHE could fall back on the talents of great director Roman Polanski. I don't mean to oversell either the movie or the performance, but it really works, and it really works because of her. It's also good to see the once-busy East Coast indie actor Brendan Sexton III, who was in "Welcome to the Dollhouse", "Boys Don't Cry", and "Session 9", but largely disappeared after that. This movie was also actually filmed in New York City, and like a lot of genuine NYC-filmed movies, the city itself is an important character.This movie is not an easy sell to anybody, but people that really like "Repulsion"-type movies will definitely appreciate this.