WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
A sudden change in routine. With any new situation we find ourselves facing, it so many times involves having to watch as all that we were used to begins to fade and new elements of necessity are introduced. How we choose to handle this–whether via frustration or joy–occurs in degrees of intensity and tested patience. But, what if this dynamic is then further interrupted by–something. For one young couple (Michael Gazin & Jane Rowen), an altered reality has arrived in the form of their first child. As new parents, it quickly becomes an initially exhausting ordeal to navigate the intricacies of caring for this needy family member, finding themselves at times wishing for the way things used to be prior to the new addition.
Attempting to find the best ways to split care duties while giving each other necessary and much longed for breaks, tensions begin to rise as small things around the house begin to become tedious, from moving the crib, to the fire alarm, cell phones going off, and even the hot water heater going on the fritz. Pressure mounts, but still the pair work through it until one particular night when the woman experiences a highly eerie and unsettling moment. Even as she feels her own sanity unraveling, it’s only a matter of time before the man also starts experiencing a darkly ominous presence in their midst. Growing increasingly scared and blaming each other for the escalating occurrences, the lines between real and imagined soon become blurred.
Next, my Mind:
For this reviewer, there’s are things to be said about a film’s concept and the speed at which it unfolds, sometimes having to have the willingness to entertain a slightly slower moving narrative that ideally keeps you just interested enough to hang on for what you hope is a quality finale that ties it all together and, as a bonus, perhaps adds an unexpected “punch” to events depicted. I can assuredly state this is the case with writer/director Stephen Portland’s 86-minute indie feature that takes an oft done foundational idea and puts a wicked and highly creative twist on things that grants the film an effective and keenly relatable sense of realism.
It offers object lessons on multiple fronts when you truly read into events–how much we take little things for granted, procrastination and its potential consequences, the value of protecting our families, experiencing the unknown and the fear derived from it, communication and its significance in relationships, plus the inherent dangers of things unseen. As hinted above, this is a slow burn character drama with specific moments of building tension infused into it to keep a lingering perception of dread as to what exactly stalks the couple’s home, aided by cinematography which follows the action well overall and mostly manages to provide those visual “jump” moments, even if sometimes it almost seems too “expected” and loses a bit of intended suspense. But, as also mentioned in broad terms above, bear with it all, because it is worth it for the surprisingly inventive finale.
Working in tandem by design thanks to the film’s narrative direction and ultimate execution, Gazin and Rowen enact their roles as the Man and Woman solidly with what this reviewer felt anyway was a purposefully understated approach, making the characters an average couple enduring the “growing pains” of new parenthood and the subsequent butting heads out of weariness and frustration ending up in an enigmatic and frighteningly escalating situation they cannot explain, soon questioning whether they can endure, both personally and as a married pair. It’s actually more engaging than it seems at first, and the two actors therefore needed to maintain presenting a believable atmosphere so as not to lose viewer’s attention span with what might be perceived as uneventful or dull sequences, which I felt they did accomplish.
Their coming to mutual agreement there is a presence in their home takes time to reach, but once its happened, things move relatively swiftly to the moment of revelation, with Gazin and Rowen firmly in control of their primarily muted, but sometimes intense, performances. Supporting cast here includes Joel Clark Ackerman and Evan Carver as cops, Elise Zell as a CSI, and a fun little appearance by indie film darling Eric Roberts as a local coroner. Additional support comes via voiceover work from Adrian Bustamante, SungWon Cho, Tom Dusenbery, Mark Christiansen, Jose Rosete, Elizabeth Saydah, and Brittany Morgan Williams. In total, “Something” gets beyond any discernable faults or, again, what some might feel is too slow pacing and ends up furnishing a well-grounded cautionary tale that most certainly speaks to real-world notions while wrapping it all in an unconventional and artistically inspired package.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
