WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
What would drive us into self-imposed reclusion? We’re engineered to be social creatures, hopefully looking to be connected with others as much as possible, establishing those coveted relationships that will define us, aid us, and fulfill our need for companionship in whatever form that takes. Yet, what will it be like when the world we inhabit and the initially innate trust in it we had gets shattered, with escaping from it our only option entertained? For adept but now struggling artist Dulce (Holly Blair), a sequestered existence is paramount to deal with a past and reality she wishes to leave behind. With the absence of any actual human attachment, an unexpected turn of events spawns new friends Webster and Mimi (Gustavo Cintra and Sara Catherine Bellamy). But, what is the price to be paid for trying to keep that which longs to be free immersed in Dulce’s requisite life of solitude?
Next, my Mind:
Dark, psychological drama collides with both mystery and beautifully executed. eerie horror/thriller elements to create a sobering, engaging, calculatedly slow-burn and increasingly intense study in what it is to cope with trauma, the stark emotional volatility it elicits within us, the desperate means we seek to cope with it, and the cost of grasping onto things that we believe are meant to last but could end up becoming selfish ambition that unsuccessfully veils what we truly need to embrace and let go of, all thanks to this new indie feature film from director/executive producer/cinematographer Kevin Stevenson, writer John Gee, producer Jason Haffley, co-producer A.J. ElGammal, and executive producer Linda Trask which will have its official debut on April 26th. I honestly wish I had a different means to say the following, but I honestly don’t, so it shall be once MORE stated–this is the beauty of independence cinema, with story and character-driven focus reigning supreme and illustrating the community’s ability to take general ideas that may have been explored before and discover the means to make it fresh. Here, for me, acheived.
As mentioned above, with what this critic felt IS highly and adeptly effective for the direction the film’s events travel, the pacing we’re given is intentionally designed to deliver a fluidly but gradually building narrative that sees a young but damaged painter living a life of exile encountering unexpected and initially jarring answers to her aloneness that begin well but spiral downwards in a haze of tangibly building tension and what I describe as more human horror, despite what COULD be construed as mildly (still creepy!) supernatural/fantasy facets involved. It really is that aforementioned exhibition of exactly how we tend to compartmentalize our inner strife in order to NOT face it and instead attempt any other substitution to handle it rather than being proactive at seeking answers that WOULD actually guide us down a much healthier journey towards reconciliation and more so liberation from what plagues us. With the current importance and NEED for better solutions to HELP those fighting mental wellness battles, for whatever reasons they are, it makes this project’s addressing of it all the more pertinent and convincing.
Also, it is the well-crafted strategy that the film employs in being able to hone in on both the factors that push someone to a certain limit and yet maintain a viable ability to exist with the demons they wrestle with daily vs. the outright explosiveness when it all goes South and what has been hidden gets exposed with emphatic potency which ends up providing the utterly shocking (VERY satisfactorily so, though) finale of the narrative its ominous punch-in-the-gut strength we witness, deliciously diabolical twists that beg for notice and instill an even larger degree of compelling accessibility and relevancy, a stirring portrait of understanding and the consequences of what’s never been dealt with paired against the vanity of believing we’ve resolved everything in a valid way via evasion rather than acceptance and inward absolution. Unrequited adoration, the hurdles of tapping the creative mind, the perceived “escape” of routine, trying to keep a hold of who we are under the specter of bygone but wholly crippling anxiety (in this case, agoraphobia), and pressing into any sense of genuine peace and satisfaction as such are all thematic tangents the film covers as well. Plus, the project’s atmospheric music score adds all the right levels of uneasy, unnerving ambiance to events as they occur.
When it comes to acting, there’s another aspect of things I tend to mention when needed, and that’s always being aware of and keeping managed expectations that when it comes to the necessity of high emotional states (whether subtle OR blatant) being conveyed, they will be carried off without overacting or melodrama clouding the performances. For this critic, I am DEEPLY grateful that NEITHER of those proposed “negatives” were present when it comes to Blair’s turn as Dulce, a seemingly successful-but-in-a-rut (artistically AND personally) painter whose life enclosed from the outside world has now taken its nasty toll, sending her into a growing tailspin of realization that she’s NOT as happy alone as she might have once believed, haunted by nightmares to boot. Thanks to some newly acquired “canvases” that turn out to be a LOT more than that, her solitude seems to have been resolved–until one new friend becomes the emergence of another who isn’t so keen on staying put.
This constantly emerging discontent and the subsequent paths it leads Dulce into is an exhibition of subtle to drastic, sadness to happiness to simmering underlying pain manifesting into boiling point unhinged volatility and how she attempts to control it, with Blair doing an excellent job of pulling you into this actuality with full plausibility and heart-wrenching emotive force from start to finish. Cintra gets the job of being a complete foil to Dulce’s pining for attention, acknowledgement, closeness, and even love through his role here as Webster, an entity that comes to life when specific events unfold involving one of Dulce’s paintings. An object of menace initially, Webster soon becomes Dulce’s ultimate answer, a being to connect to, teach, and spend time with as the solution to her societal withdrawal. At first scary but then mostly nothing but endearing and harmless for her, Webster soon catches on to another image that he himself finds meaning in, and how this is pursued will be a key catalyst for Dulce’s life to get FAR more complicated than anticipated. Cintra’s understated and, almost literally, muted performance is perfectly presented.
Finally there is Bellamy, who truly adds another definitive layer of quietly (in the beginning, anyway!) chilling air to the proceedings through her role as Mimi, another figment of Dulce’s previously done artwork-oriented imagination who, thanks to Webster, gets the opportunity to be brought into his and Dulce’s once placid situation, immediately making it clear how more “advanced” and aware she is. Without much effort at all, Mimi wastes no time in learning, adapting, and taking over control of the apartment while also adamantly insisting on gaining access to the outside world, something Dulce of course has severe issue with. How this tension will be unpacked comes into focus, with shadowy and sinister vengeance, and has greater ripple effects than any of them see coming. It’s Mimi’s uncanny mix of calm spookiness and then disturbingly brooding, smiling-on-the-surface, manipulative attitudes and actions that makes the character work SO deftly well here, and Bellamy assuredly makes her acting mark on the film with an acutely penetrating performance.
Addtional roles are carried out by Anabella Rainer, Kendall Stevenson, David Ray, Jeremy Stein, Jared Williams, Gary Stevenson, Walter Trask, and Elizabeth Cudlip. So, in total, “A Girl Upstairs” is a vivid contemporary almalgamation of foundational awareness-raising intent infused with edgy drama, enigmatic thrills, and a touch of unsettling horror that morphs into a cautionary tale about how, even in our own internal pain and fears, we need to be far more vigilant about precisely what we choose or allow to arise from it, for it may not end up being what we wished for at all, keeping us imprisoned or worse, instead of fostering the true freedom we yearned for.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
